January 23, 2019 | International, Land
In early April, nine qualified teams will attempt to remotely navigate the dark and dirty corridors of Edgar Experimental Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado, in preparation for the Circuits Stage of the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge later this year. The SubT Integration Exercise, known as STIX, offers teams an opportunity to try out their technologies, including robotics, sensors, and communications solutions, in a representative environment. The locations for the Circuits Stage events have not been announced.
The Subterranean Challenge seeks to revolutionize how first responders and warfighters operate in human-made tunnel systems, urban underground settings, and natural cave networks that are too dangerous, dark, deep, and unknown to risk human lives. Teams are competing to develop breakthrough technologies that rapidly and remotely map, navigate, and search subterranean environments.
To qualify for STIX, teams were required to demonstrate baseline performance capabilities and appropriate safety measures. The participating teams and members are as follows:
CERBERUS: CollaborativE walking & flying RoBots for autonomous ExploRation in Underground Settings
CoSTAR: Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Resilient Robots
CRAS: Center for Robotics and Autonomous Systems
CRETISE: Collaborative Robot Exploration and Teaming In Subterranean Environments
CSIRO Data61
Explorer
MARBLE: Multi-agent Autonomy with Radar-Based Localization for Exploration
PLUTO: Pennsylvania Laboratory for Underground Tunnel Operations
Robotika.cz
The SubT Challenge comprises two competitions – the Systems Competition, where teams will develop novel hardware solutions to compete in physical underground environments, and the Virtual Competition, where teams will develop software-based solutions to test in simulated scenarios.
Teams will compete in three preliminary Circuit events and a Final event pursuing high-risk and high-reward approaches. The Final event, planned for 2021, will put teams to the test with courses that incorporate diverse challenges from all three environments. Teams in the Systems track will compete for up to $2 million in the Systems Final event, with up to $200,000 in additional prizes available for self-funded teams in each of the Systems Circuit events. Teams in the Virtual track will compete for up to $1.5 million in the Virtual Final event, with additional prizes of up to $500,000 for self-funded teams in each of the Virtual Circuit events.
Other teams interested in participating in the SubT Challenge may submit their qualification materials to be eligible for future events. The next qualification deadline is April 22, 2019, to establish eligibility for the Tunnel Circuit in August. Requirements can be found in the SubT Qualification Guide available on the Resources Page.
Interested teams are also encouraged to join the SubT Community Forum, where they can engage with other participants and ask any questions.
For additional information on the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, please visit www.subtchallenge.com.
Please email questions to SubTChallenge@darpa.mil.
July 22, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
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February 15, 2021 | International, Naval, C4ISR, Security
Mark Pomerleau CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified the organization soliciting white papers as the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. WASHINGTON — The Navy is searching for solutions from industry that can fill needed gaps in cyber warfare capabilities to secure weapon systems and exploit cyberspace. The Naval Air Systems Command Cyber Warfare Detachment is looking for white papers for research and development efforts on resilient cyber warfare capabilities, according to a Feb. 11 posting to a government contracting website. The proposals should offer advancements or improvements to fill gaps, the notice stated, listing eight buckets of technological interests: Size-, weight- and power-sensitive cyber resiliency for real-time operating systems and aviation warfare environment Access point identification, prioritization and defense Cyber-electronic warfare convergent capabilities Full acquisition cycle cybersecurity measures Cyber test, inspection and incident response concepts Cyber warning system techniques Cyber fault, risk and threat assessment methodologies Resilient network concepts NAVAIR provided a more in-depth list of 36 specific areas, including full-spectrum cyber response and enablement capabilities for multiple weapon system kill chains, sacrificial infrastructure and reactive cyber “armor,” deceptive/misinformation software and hardware capabilities, threat attribution, identification and geolocation, software defined radio protections and capabilities networking, tools for weapon system cyber protection teams for incident response and inspection, and suppression and discovery of malware command and control mechanisms to include triggering, reconnaissance and logic bombs. The command will accept responses until Feb. 10, 2022, and review them quarterly. The next phase of the program will be by invitation. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2021/02/11/navwar-looking-for-emerging-cyber-research-and-development/
October 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security