The microelectronics community is facing an array of long foreseen obstacles to Moore’s Law, the transistor scaling that has allowed for 50 years of rapid progress in electronics. Current economic, geopolitical, and physics-based complications make the future of the electronics industry uniquely interesting at this moment. To jump-start innovation in the field, DARPA announced in […]
PALS Turns To Marine Organisms To Help Monitor Strategic Waters
The world’s vast oceans and seas offer seemingly endless spaces in which adversaries of the United States can maneuver undetected. The U.S. military deploys networks of manned and unmanned platforms and sensors to monitor adversary activity, but the scale of the task is daunting and hardware alone cannot meet every need in the dynamic marine […]
DARPA Program Aims To Extend Lifetime Of Quantum Systems
Whether it is excited electrons emitting photons in a lightbulb or the vibrational frequency of atoms in an atomic clock, quantum phenomena are simultaneously fundamental aspects of nature and the basis of current state-of-the-art and future technologies. This is particularly the case as sensor and device performance continue to improve and approach their fundamental limits. […]
U.S. Electronics Innovation Leaps Forward Via Joint University Microelectronics Program
DARPA is all about developing advanced technologies that could underpin decisive national security capabilities in the years to come. A typical sequence that leads to new technology starts with fundamental science and engineering research, which, in turn, opens new pathways toward greatly improved technology by way of applied and goal-directed engineering and product development. In […]
Ocean Of Things Aims To Expand Maritime Awareness Across Open Seas
The internet of things connects an ever-growing number of smart devices for up-to-the-minute monitoring and tracking of many common events. Head out to most parts of the open ocean, however, and no such capability exists for real-time monitoring of maritime activity. DARPA today announced its Ocean of Things program, which seeks to enable persistent maritime […]
Nature’s Silent Sentinels Could Help Detect Security Threats
Few military requirements are as enduring as the need for timely, accurate information. To meet this demand, the Department of Defense invests heavily in the development of powerful electronic and mechanical sensors, and in the manpower to maintain and operate those sensors. DARPA has been involved on the research side of the equation since the […]
BTO Lays Foundation For A New Generation Of Biotech Ventures
DARPA has enjoyed a strong relationship with Silicon Valley since the early 1960s, working with innovators to lay the groundwork for new industries built around Agency investments in semiconductors, networking, artificial intelligence, user interfaces, programming, materials, microsystems, and more. Biotech is now emerging as a breakthrough opportunity space and it represents an area that is […]
DARPA Rolls Out Electronics Resurgence Initiative
With the official roll out today of the Electronics Resurgence Initiative’s latest investments, DARPA hopes to open new innovation pathways to address impending engineering and economics challenges that, if left unanswered, could challenge what has been a relentless half-century run of progress in microelectronics technology. To maintain healthy forward momentum, ERI over the next four […]
Dormant, Yet Always-Alert Sensor Awakes Only In The Presence Of A Signal Of Interest
Here’s your task. Build a tiny sensor that detects a signature of infrared (IR) wavelengths characteristic of a hot tailpipe, a wood fire, or perhaps even a human being. Design the sensor so that it can remain dormant and unattended but always alert, even for years, without drawing on battery power. And build the sensor […]
DARPA Assured Autonomy Seeks To Guarantee Safety Of Learning-Enabled Autonomous Systems
Building on recent breakthroughs in autonomous cyber systems and formal methods, DARPA today announced a new research program called Assured Autonomy that aims to advance the ways computing systems can learn and evolve to better manage variations in the environment and enhance the predictability of autonomous systems like driverless vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). […]