7 interesting projects DARPA

DARPA - US Defense Agency. Established in 1958 and engaged in the development of technologies used in the armed forces. The idea to create a research defense organization arose after the launch of the Soviet Sputnik. And the goal was to show that the United States is the leader of the technological race. But the agency, in addition to contributing to America’s defense systems, manages to influence technology, to promote the development of a huge number of innovations that have changed the lifestyle of many people. Among such merits is the development of GPS, ARPANET (bases for the Internet). The United States continues to actively invest in technology development.

Space plane XS-1

The space industry has long dreamed of a shuttle that would launch into space several times. But such devices were applicable for reusable use only partially.

Aviation companies Northrop Grumman, Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic and DARPA united to create such a mechanism.

Development should take off vertically, but this drone will be able to land horizontally. As a result, the XS-1 was created - a space plane developed as part of a pilot project. Of the features of the device: take-off in the conditions of the smallest infrastructure and return to Earth after a payload is released in Earth orbit. The desired acceleration mechanism - 10 max.

DARPA aims to reduce the cost of the flight to 5 million dollars, despite the fact that now the price is 5 times higher. The drone must demonstrate its reusable use: 10 times to fly to orbit in 10 days.

The X-37B project, which has been developed for more than 25 years, was transferred to DARPA 10 years ago and partially intercepted several years after that by the US Air Force. However, to go into orbit, he needs to use an Atlas V rocket.

The original idea of ​​the XS-1 was to turn it into a rocket system with an improved plan, on the basis of which another device would be put into orbit. The XS-1 was supposed to use supersonic motion.

All these developments give impetus to the development of such mechanisms that make it easier to reach space. DARPA is now expected to come up with new solutions and alternative approaches in manufacturability, design, cost and performance. In addition, you need to assess the opportunities and prospects in the civilian, commercial and military sectors.

Gremlins - drones-talismans

DARPA plans to create drones that would be launched from an aircraft. Such devices are already so easy to use that children can easily cope with control from the ground, and they are also becoming more and more miniature. New development received the name "Gremlins". The name comes from the mascots of the pilots of the Second World War.

Gremlins are inexpensive, reasonable designs, their purpose is to monitor the situation and explore.

Another application is the elimination of targets. The drone is able to drown communications or radar. Discouraged the pilot becomes an object for a rocket or other military weapons.

Development should be reusable and function long term.

Dana Patta, the head of the project, noted that the system will not work for decades, its mission is to ensure the operation of individual parts of the drone - the engine, the payload, but to support the entire device does not make sense.

Drone is important to provide an artificial intelligence. Among his abilities, they promise orientation in space in order to fly out of airplanes and return back to avoid collisions. High-tech and maneuverable drones have every chance to penetrate into the public sphere.

Not only air drones will be in active use in the future. DARPA is developing technologies that are planned to be used on the water space as a robotic platform. The development is capable of floating up, releasing shells. Control is carried out remotely.

This method represents new opportunities for military operations in the environment of the ocean that was not previously actively affected. However, such use of water space requires the introduction of new standards. The United Nations, in its speeches, noted that world conflicts occur at the junction of coastal points, the contested locality. Factors such as weather conditions, global warming, change access to a number of points in the marine environment, opening up access to them. Developing robots in the context of fuzzy rules of warfare and the clash of interests of several states can have dire consequences.

Tactical energy generating robot

Three years ago, there were many rumors about the creation of a carnivorous robot. Above the terrible development, according to the information, the US military worked. The Energy Autonomous Tactical Robot in question turned out to be quite harmless. It feeds on plant biomass to accumulate energy. Sprigs, blades of grass are suitable for food; paper and slivers are also suitable. After processing all this, the robot receives energy. More traditional resources, such as gasoline or diesel, coal and solar energy, may well be used as power sources, but they are not the main ones.

The development was created to maintain military groups in combat conditions. The device is capable of carrying equipment, combat materials, weapons or victims.

The terrible news that the robot will absorb people, greatly excited the public. Harry Shoell, CEO of Cyclone Power Technologies, who was involved in the creation of the robot, has repeatedly tried to reassure everyone. He notes that futuristic developments always cause people's fears, but working in such a project is not at all his mission. All his robots will eat strictly vegetarian food.

In favor of the fact that the creation of carnivorous technology is impossible, says another factor: robots that feed on carrion, can not appear on the battlefield. By law, eating the dead is desecration, which amounts to a war crime.

The use of technology is also possible in another area: it has long been planned to create a car with alternative power sources. It is quite possible to use food waste if there are no funds for gasoline.

Memex

Memex is a network that will allow a deeper search on the World Wide Web. The system was announced in early 2015, although the process of its creation and the first attempts to put it into practice began earlier. DARPA suggests using Memex to search the deep web - Deep Web. Modern search engines like Google or Bing cannot get so deep. Depth Web is either unavailable or available only with Tor or 12P encrypted networks. It is technically not so difficult for well-known search engines to connect the Deep Web and offer it for use on a par with other products, but it is not profitable for search engines in commercial terms.

And the agency announced the advancement of the search engine Memex. The initial idea of ​​the system is to actively promote law enforcement. They sought to obtain results on a narrow specification of interests that commercial search engines are not able to issue. Among the requested topics - the slave trade, drug trafficking and human organs. Memex is designed primarily as a tool for government agencies, the military and law enforcement sector. But at the same time, it attracts attention as an object of civilian use. Thanks to its unique capabilities, it can become a competitor to Google.

One of the Memex project participants sees the future in the fact that the system will allow to find virtually any information on the network, and the work will be carried out automatically. All search actions will be carried out using artificial intelligence using machine learning. One day, the trainee robots will be fully occupied in the system, and as long as they do all the hard work, nothing puts the user to do such a demanding job as watching videos with cats.

Active memory reflection

Episodic memories and skills can now be restored in memory thanks to RAM Replay . The researchers have set the task of developing mechanisms for strengthening declarative memory, which allows to remember facts, events, experience, and they also develop mechanisms for restoring procedural memory, using unconscious information aimed at using skills.

Neural playback is capable of playing patterns or memory coding systems. Scientists have already conducted tests on animals, which showed that all the memorized information is activated during sleep or at the time of wakefulness with the help of neural playback. It is their study and is engaged in DARPA. They explore the frequency of activation, the gaps between them, and other aspects. Developments show that smells or stimulation of the head with the help of electrical impulses can affect the process of learning a particular skill. At that moment, when the playback mechanism becomes clear, the quality of acquiring skills and memory will move to a new level.

Justin Sanchez, one of the researchers of the project, noted that various non-traditional ways of working with human memory today are popular in a wide variety of fields. This mnemonic technology and special programs for smartphones. However, most of these techniques affect only some aspects of memory, in general, they are much more.

RAM Replay is a system whose main purpose is to strengthen the basic mechanisms of memory. Improving the mechanism leads to the fact that the memory becomes more reliable even with a large amount of information. Such a decision is applicable not only in the military sector and the combat situation, but also for the public in the fields of education, retraining and others.

Subject networks

Stories, plots, narratives greatly change a person's behavior and way of thinking. The Americans were interested in studying this area. Narrative Networks is a project that was developed specifically for this purpose. The program allows you to take the plot, analyze it and submit in a strict and transparent form.

Previously, data tracking was carried out through the collection of information on social networks. But from the analysis of the plot in the networks, the developers have moved on to the analysis of microfacial movements - intricate changes in the face and MRI scanning. The goal is to establish how narratives and ideas affect a person.

Documentation DARPA declares: any plot is a powerful means of influencing thoughts, feelings and behavior. Speaking of potentially dangerous situations, conflicts, anti-terrorism scenarios, any issues relating to security, this study becomes incredibly relevant. Any nervous reaction that arises as a response to the plot is significant for the situation.

The developers conducted a series of tests. Students were hooked up to an MRI system and showed Hitchcock and Aliens films. It was found that when an emotional threat approaches, information about the outside world, awareness of it, is significantly reduced.

The result of their work, the researchers see the creation of such a device that would imperceptibly determine the impact of the narrative on the psyche. DARPA’s interest in technology concerns many anthropologists. Hugh Gusterson spoke of this, noting that for the Pentagon such a subject is too “tasty” to pass by. Although most people are of the opinion that without military neuroscience one can sleep well.

Predatory microorganisms and epidemic forecasting

DARPA decided to establish why various harmful microorganisms work for us or against us. And all because the number of bacteria with which even antibiotics cannot cope grows. The threat in this situation, the military see because of the increasing likelihood of the use of resistant bacteria in terrorist acts.

Bacterial infections really treat predatory pathogens. These include Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus, they are able to hunt hundreds of human pathogens and those that are resistant to the drug as well. The technique of using predatory microorganisms opens up a potentially new way of treatment.

Before actively using this methodology in practice, you need to find out a number of questions. The first thing to establish is whether it would be dangerous to treat on the basis of predatory microorganisms for a person. The second aspect concerns the development of resistance against predatory viruses. And third, whether the fight against targeted pathogens will be effective. After receiving the answers, scientists will be able to derive an effective method of fighting against bacteria.

Not only this research is aimed at fighting bacteria. THoR is a program that studies the nature of immunity, its tolerance in both people and animals. Matthew Hepburn, a colonel participating in the program, believes that understanding the nature and ways of transmitting germs will significantly reduce the mortality rate of harmful, hard-to-treat bacteria.

DARPA also works with programs designed to prevent the spread of epidemics. To do this, they are trying to best predict the evolution of pathogens and how they spread. A year ago, the US investigated the Chikungunya virus. A CHIKV competition was held where scientists obtained specific data sets about the virus. The best results were shown by a team from the University of Arizona. Mathematician Joislin Leg and epidemiologist assistant Heidi Brown successfully estimated the number of diseases, analyzed their peak and duration from the moment of illness. The study was based on these diseases in the Caribbean last year. The essence of this program is in predicting an epidemic in order to be able to hold the virus in advance and prevent it from evolving. Researchers strive to achieve indicators that make forecasts as easy as determining the weather.