RAF, l’Eurofighter en successeur du Tornado !

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  May 1, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Tests Advanced Chemical Sensors

  DARPA's SIGMA program, which began in 2014, has demonstrated a city-scale capability for detecting radiological and nuclear threats that is now being operationally deployed. DARPA is building off this work with the SIGMA+ initiative that is focused on providing city- to region-scale detection capabilities across the full chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threat space. DARPA initiated a SIGMA+ pilot study last year known as ChemSIGMA to provide initial data and insights into how new chemical sensors using the existing SIGMA network would function. The chemical sensor package incorporates a chemical sensor, wind sensor and communications board into a weatherproof housing. Sensors report wind readings and real-time chemical information to a central cloud-hosted suite of fusion algorithms. “The algorithms were developed using a custom simulation engine that fuses multiple detector inputs,” said Anne Fischer, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “We built the algorithms based on simulant releases in a large metropolitan area – so we took existing data to build the algorithms for this network framework. With this network, we're able to use just the chemical sensor outputs and wind measurements to look at chemical threat dynamics in real time, how those chemical threats evolve over time, and threat concentration as it might move throughout an area.” In the pilot study, DARPA researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Physical Sciences Inc., and Two Six Labs, built a small network of chemical sensor packages. In partnership with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Marion County Health Department, DARPA's performer teams deployed the network on-site at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late April 2018. The chemical sensor network and the data collected during events such as the 2018 Indianapolis 500 were critical to the DARPA effort, allowing the team to assess the performance of the sensors and network algorithms. These tests were conducted in an urban environment to ensure that the system could handle complex and stochastic signals from species that are ever present in a city's chemical background. Significantly, the network-level algorithm successfully improved system performance by correctly suppressing false detection events at the individual detector level. The group of DARPA researchers was also able to collect a large relevant data set and valuable user feedback that will guide ongoing system development efforts. Further testing with safe simulant/concert smoke at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, August 2018 During additional tests in August 2018, a non-hazardous chemical simulant was released in the empty Indianapolis Motor Speedway at a realistic threat rate. Concert fog was also released to serve as a visible tracer. The propagation of the visible tracer was observed in aerial photography, and ChemSIGMA sensors and algorithms determined the release location with unprecedented accuracy. The web-based ChemSIGMA interface allows the user to view alerts in real time across a variety of devices. Multiple trials were conducted over the course of several days assessing performance over a variety of meteorological conditions. Releases occurred during daytime and nighttime with a full range of wind directions and speeds. The ChemSIGMA prototype system detected all of the simulant releases and generated zero false alarms over the course of testing. Department of Defense simulant testing at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, October 2018 “We're looking at how we might make this network more robust and more mature,” Fischer said. “For example, we implemented a network at Dugway Proving Ground as part of a DoD test for simulant releases, and have shown that the network can respond to a number of chemical simulant threats different than those used in Indianapolis, as well as built-in capabilities for mobile releases. Over the past few months, the team has used these data sets to further refine the algorithms, and plans to integrate and test them with the ChemSIGMA system in test events scheduled later this year.” The successful pilot and simulant test of the ChemSIGMA system at the Indy500 and Dugway Proving Ground provided valuable, relevant, and realistic data sets for validation and verification of the source localization and plume propagation algorithms. DARPA is currently extending the capabilities for networked chemical detection by advancing additional sensor modalities, including short-range point sensors based on techniques, such as mass spectrometry, and long-range spectroscopic systems. As these systems are further developed and matured, they will be integrated into the SIGMA+ continuous, real-time, and scalable network architecture to increase the system's capabilities for city-scale monitoring of chemical and explosive threats and threat precursors. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-04-30

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  March 26, 2019 | International, Naval

  Innovation Road Show: US Navy Seeks Acquisition Solutions from Small Businesses

  By Warren Duffie Jr., Office of Naval Research Public Affairs ARLINGTON, Va. (NNS) -- In an effort to establish new connections with innovative small businesses and research companies—and reach these players where they live and work—the U.S. Navy will host a trio of outreach events on April 8-11 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Navy will hold the events through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, both located at the Office of Naval Research. SBIR provides the Navy with groundbreaking technology created by small firms—while STTR transitions products developed by both small businesses and research institutions to the Navy and Marine Corps. This year's events will spotlight New England's regional technology corridor, known for its prominent academic institutions, research centers, laboratories and science- and defense-focused companies. “Outreach events like these help foster collaboration to enhance the innovation network and pipeline, and accelerate the delivery of needed technologies to the Navy and Marine Corps,” said SBIR Director Bob Smith. “It's part of a new naval effort to deliver capabilities to warfighters faster by expanding relationships with regional technology hubs. This year, New England is the first stop.” The three events are: Partnering Summit—This is a setting where the naval acquisition community, government, industry and research organizations can meet to discuss naval priorities, share best practices and learn about partnership opportunities with SBIR and STTR. Monday, April 8, and Tuesday, April 9, at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center. Learn more at https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/SBIRSTTR. Navy Forum for SBIR/STTR Transition (FST)—FST is an annual innovation marketplace matching Navy needs with small business-technology solutions. Attendees can see 133 exhibits from 107 vendors; engage in one-on-one meetings; listen to Tech Talks; and sit in on sessions hosted by congressional and Department of Defense leaders. Wednesday, April 10, and Thursday, April 11, at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Learn more at https://navyfst.com/. Accelerated Delivery and Acquisition of Prototype Technologies (ADAPT) Workshop—ADAPT is a new approach to match non-traditional small businesses with naval needs and quick research-and-development funding. This half-day workshop will feature technology briefs on pre-released areas of interest from a Navy shipyard; discussion about the proposal process and contracting; and opportunities for face-to-face conversations with subject matter experts. Wednesday, April 10, from 8 a.m. to noon. UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center. Learn more at https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/ADAPT. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=108981

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  September 14, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  How does the Pentagon’s AI center plan to give the military a battlefield advantage?

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's artificial intelligence hub is working on tools to help in joint, all-domain operations as department leaders seek to use data to gain an advantage on the battlefield. This year, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center kicked off its joint war-fighting initiative, under which it is developing algorithms to provide armed services and combatant commands with AI tools to accelerate decision-making. Nand Mulchandani, acting director of the JAIC, said the center, for example, is “heavily” involved in the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, the service's primary lever to enable the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept. The system underwent a major test last week. The center is “specifically focused” on working to harness AI to link together systems involved in the intelligence-gathering phase to the operations and effects piece of all-domain operations, Mulchandani added. “It's how do we actually connect these platforms together end to end to build sort of a system that allows a commander to actually have that level of both visibility on the intel side but able to action it on the other side,” Mulchandani said on a call with reporters Thursday. The JAIC is also working on an operations cognitive assistant tool to support commanders and “drive faster and more efficient decision-making through AI-enabled predictive analytics,” Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy said Thursday at the DoD AI Symposium. “Our goal is to nest these capabilities under the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept ... to provide a more cohesive and synchronized operational framework for the joint force,” Deasy said. Earlier in the summer, a JAIC official said the war-fighting team was trying to aim a laser on an enemy vehicle to inflict damage. But to enable all these tools, one thing is paramount: data. The DoD CIO's office is set to release its data strategy later this year, with the department's new chief data officer, Dave Spirk, saying at the symposium that the he worked to reorient a draft of the strategy to ensure the use of data to enable joint war fighting is the top priority. “We're in a place now where we want to put joint war fighting at the top of the pile of things we're working on,” Spirk said at the symposium Sept. 9. Deasy also emphasized the importance of data in war fighting during a session at the Billington Cybersecurity Conference that same day. “When we do the exercises, the experiments and things maybe don't go right — I can guarantee you what they're going to write down on the whiteboard at the end of that is ‘data.' Did we have the right data today? Why couldn't we connect those data across our weapons systems, our various assets?” Deasy said. Critical to the development of artificial intelligence are adequate data storage and development platforms. The JAIC recently awarded a contract worth more than $100 million to Deloitte for the development of the Joint Common Foundation platform, an enterprisewide, cloud-based platform that the center will use to develop AI tools. Meanwhile, DoD components such as the JAIC are also awaiting the deployment of the DoD's embattled enterprise cloud, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure. Department officials have continuously pointed to the JEDI cloud as a critical piece of the JAIC's ability to develop artificial intelligence, as the new technology it is expected to store 80 percent of DoD systems across classification levels and provide massive amounts of data. Deasy said Sept. 9 that JADC2 will require the services to collect and share data with each other in a way that they have never done before, and that may require changes to how they operate. But in order to enable JADC2, he added, a cultural shift in how the services treat their data is needed; if the services want to link sensors to shooters, interoperability of services' systems and data is imperative. “Historically, each service could gather up their data, send it up their command to focus on. But in this new world ... the services are going to have to come together, which means the data's going to have to come together in a very different way,” Deasy said at the Billington Cybersecurity Conference. The DoD is in the "early days of how we're going to do that,” he added. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/09/10/how-does-the-pentagons-ai-center-plan-to-give-the-military-a-battlefield-advantage/