DARPA launched the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program in 2006 to advance the state of upper-limb prosthetic technology with the goals of improving quality of life for service-disabled veterans and ultimately giving them the option of returning to duty. Since then, Revolutionizing Prosthetics teams have developed two anthropomorphic advanced modular
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  Sepsis is an overwhelming blood infection, which when coupled with shock (such as that which may be experienced following a combat injury) has a mortality rate near 50 percent. Current methods to identify and treat sepsis may take 48 hours or longer – resulting in increased recovery time from combat wounds and hundreds of preventable deaths
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Making sense of large amounts of data is a challenge for military operations officers and intelligence analysts whose window for processing that data is often small. In reviewing captured documents, intelligence reports, news articles and related information, conservative estimates indicate that these personnel are unable to explore as much as 90% o
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Warfighters who encounter enemy forces on the ground benefit from overhead aircraft support. Some capabilities are lost, however, when cloud-cover obscures the view. Typically, airborne weapon systems that use electro-optic (EO) sensors during support missions can’t “see” through clouds. DARPA’s Video Synthetic Aperture Radar (ViSAR) program
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  When the Department of Defense (DoD) wants to build a jet engine, it doesn’t put a team of engineers in a hangar with a block of metal and some chisels. Jet engines are made up of individual components that are carefully assembled into a finished product that possesses the desired performance capabilities. In the case of thin-film deposi
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Current satellites are not designed to be serviced in space. When a communication satellite in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) fails 36,000 kilometers above the earth, typically, it is moved into a “graveyard” orbit where it remains indefinitely. Many of the satellites which are obsolete or have failed still have usable antennas, solar arrays and oth
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  The American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced that Bob Colwell, deputy director, DARPA Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), will join its elite membership. Some of the others elected into the Academy this year are Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sir Paul McCartney, Clint Eastwood, Mel Brooks, Melinda F. Gates and Amazon founder Jeffery Bezos.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Following an extensive seven-month analysis of data collected from the Aug. 11, 2011, second flight of DARPA’s Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), an independent engineering review board (ERB) investigating the cause of a flight anomaly completed its report. The findings of the ERB validated the vehicle’s aerodynamic design and uncovered new
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Many U.S. Military systems, such as missiles, rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide accurate position, orientation and time information while in flight. When GPS is inaccessible, whether as a result of a malfunction or as a consequence of enemy action, information critical for navigation must be gathered using the missile's on-board
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  As iconic symbols of the future, robots rank high with flying cars and starships, but basic robots are already in use in emergency response, industry, defense, healthcare and education. DARPA plans to offer a $2 million prize to whomever can help push the state-of-the-art in robotics beyond today’s capabilities in support of the DoD’s dis
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
High-performance microsystems are vital for a wide variety of DoD systems that provide U.S. warfighters with technological surprise over adversaries in areas such as communications, sensing and electronic warfare. Current fabrication technology limits the types of materials and devices that can be integrated together, forcing circuit designers to ma
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Warfighters missions rely on a virtual net of sensors and communications systems for greater battlefield awareness than at any time in history. At the same time, demands for actionable information have spiked as warfighters at every level—whether at the planning table or on patrol—are called upon to make well-informed decisions. To maximize miss
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Atomic clocks are the most accurate frequency standard and timing devices in the world. Their range of uses include being the international standard for timekeeping, managing broadcasts and satellite positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Traditional atomic clocks are too large to be placed onboard small satellites so a downlink with Earth is nee
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  The use of ground robots in military explosive-ordinance-disposal missions already saves many lives and prevents thousands of other casualties. If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could potentially assist warfighters across a greater range of missions. DARPA’s Maximum Mobili
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
The Arctic region is poised for greater regional significance as polar ice retreats in coming decades. Ship traffic likely will increase during summer months, and commercial activity focused on the sea floor is expected to grow. The Arctic is largely isolated, vast and environmentally extreme. Remote sensing may offer affordable advantages over trad
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  The dynamics of social networks have provided a platform for communication research for years. The introduction of social media channels has added an element of hyper-connectedness to that research, resulting in efforts to better understand how to leverage social media as a communication channel for timely mass information, rapid mobilization
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
To date, there has been much focus on increasing DoD cyber defensive capabilities. To be sure, the list of needed capabilities is long. DoD networks may be safer than they were, but systems are often easily penetrated, accounts are routinely hacked, intellectual property and sensitive information are compromised, and the supply chain is not secure.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  Since 2009, DARPA has been steadily increasing its cyber research. Its budget submission for fiscal year 2012 increased cyber research funding by $88M, from $120M to $208M. Over the next five years, the Agency’s proposed cyber research investment is expected to grow from 8 to 12 percent of its top line.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  Today, the lowest echelon members of the U.S. military deployed in remote overseas locations are unable to obtain on-demand satellite imagery in a timely and persistent manner for pre-mission planning. This is due to lack of satellite overflight opportunities, inability to receive direct satellite downlinks at the tactical level and informati
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Precision robotic activity in space, where there’s zero gravity, introduces both advantages and disadvantages. To date, large organizations with complex space systems have dominated this domain. For a small company or an individual this task is almost impossible. But bridging the gap to make the impossible a reality has long been a DARPA trait. Fo
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  The use of ground robots in military explosive-ordinance-disposal missions already saves many lives and prevents thousands of other casualties. If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could much more effectively assist warfighters and other Department of Defense personnel across
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program is developing software to perform human-level tasks quickly and with minimal direction.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
  In testimony presented today before the House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, DARPA Deputy Director, Kaigham J. Gabriel, eschewed the opportunity to highlight many of the Agency’s achievements from the past year, opting instead to use his time before the subcommittee to reinforce National Securit
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Today’s interconnected wireless world has led to congested airwaves, making Radio Frequency (RF) management a hot topic. For warfighters overseas, efficiently managing the congested RF spectrum is critical to ensure effective communications and intelligence gathering.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
In the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) comparison, American students ranked 21st out of 30 in science literacy among students from developed countries. The President’s Educate to Innovate campaign seeks to improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science, technology, engineering, and mathemati
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
By carrying a more accurate rifle scope, U.S. warfighters can increase their standoff distance when engaging enemies. Increased standoff distance can help protect warfighter lives. This is especially true when an infrared scope is needed for nighttime action. Technologies exist for cooled infrared imaging at greater distances, but such imaging syste
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Providing high-bandwidth communications for troops in remote forward operating locations is not only critical but also challenging because a reliable infrastructure optimized for remote geographic areas does not exist. When you introduce additional needs, such as communication support for data feeds from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) transmitting
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Dropped calls are an annoyance in a major metropolitan area. But when you’re conducting military patrols in a remote forward-operating location, a loss of data signal means no connectivity between you, reachback support, firepower and valuable intelligence. DARPA’s Fixed Wireless at a Distance program seeks to enable pervasive, high-throughput
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Today’s dismounted warfighter can be saddled with more than 100 pounds of gear, resulting in physical strain, fatigue and degraded performance. Reducing the load on dismounted warfighters has become a major point of emphasis for defense research and development, because the increasing weight of individual equipment has a negative impact on warfigh
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Computers are constrained by physical limits, as well as the requirement for humans to program how computers interact with their environments. In contrast the human brain autonomously processes information and learns from its environment. If available, neuromorphic electronic machines, computers that function more like a brain, may enable autonomo
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Embedded computer systems play a part in every aspect of DoD technology. The software in these systems does everything from managing large physical infrastructures, to running peripherals such as printers and routers, to controlling medical devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps. Networking these embedded computer systems enables remote retrie
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Currently being developed by DARPA researchers at Washington-based Innovega iOptiks are contact lenses that enhance normal vision by allowing a wearer to view virtual and augmented reality images without the need for bulky apparatus. Instead of oversized virtual reality helmets, digital images are projected onto tiny full-color displays that are ve
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Computational capability is an enabler for nearly every military system. But computational capability is increasingly limited by power requirements and the constraints on the ability to dissipate heat. One particular military computational need is found in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems where sensors collect more information
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Proteins are essential in almost all biological processes. The three-dimensional shape of the protein, which is essential to its function, is determined by protein folding. Foldit, which was initially funded by DARPA, is a game with an online community of 240,000 players that allows non-experts and experts alike to collaborate and solve protein fold
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
TIME Magazine highlighted a DARPA-developed fire-suppression technology naming it among the 50 best inventions of 2011. Fire in a combat vehicle, aboard a ship or other confined space such as an airplane cockpit puts warfighters at risk. Today’s fire suppression technologies are many decades old and focus largely on disrupting the chemical reactio
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Military satellites are critical sources of communications and data for today’s operations environments. Through DARPA’s Phoenix program, useable antennas or solar arrays from retired satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO – 36,000 kilometers above earth) could be removed and potentially repurposed as components for new satellites to provide
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Military missions place tremendous stress on the materials used for defense weapons, vehicles and other applications. As a result, the search for stronger, lighter and more resilient materials is never ending. Some materials have proven to have high pressure phases that could yield performance improvements in a variety of defense applications provid
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Multiple scenarios exist where warfighters may be exposed to high levels of radiation. Countermeasures against possible high doses of radiation are an ongoing high priority for Department of Defense research and development organizations.
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
The use of chemical agents by enemy forces or terrorists poses a threat to U.S. troops and civilian populations. New countermeasures against nerve agents remain a high priority research and development focus for the Department of Defense. Human butyrylcholinesterase, a bioscavenger that binds nerve agent in the blood stream before it can affect the
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |
Securing research funding can be a challenge for tenure-track faculty with cutting-edge ideas but few connections. Those ideas may be the breakthroughs needed to advance critical science and technologies in support of the Defense mission. For the sixth year, DARPA will invest in the next generation of rising academic stars through its Young Faculty
| DARPA News RSS | Defense Goverment |