Defense Research Sciences

This effort investigates new techniques in resilient multi-agent autonomy providing system-wide resilience during complex autonomous missions with multiple simultaneous goals in the face of unmodeled adversarial disruptions. This includes system-wide resilient behaviors that can anticipate, adapt, or reorganize in the face of unexpected and unmodeled disturbance, disruptions, or attacks; autonomous behaviors for anticipatory policies for sustained sufficiency, adaptations to recoup performance, and reorganization to recover from loss of functionality; and risk-aware adversarial machine learning to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities associated with adversarial attacks on machine learning models.

This effort supports extramural basic research to create and exploit new scientific discoveries from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) that will improve the Army's transformational capabilities. Areas of interest include chemical sciences, computing sciences, electronics and photonics, life sciences, material sciences, mathematical sciences, mechanical sciences, network sciences, and physics.

This effort supports studies to enable the design of novel materials for energy storage and generation through development of isomers where manipulations to half-life enables the molecules' energy to be harvested, the creation of multi-fuel tolerant electrodes for fuel cells and batteries to avoid contaminant poisoning while preventing electrode degradation, and the emergence of multivalent electrode chemistries and their electrolytes to achieve a higher capacity battery without issues related to dendrite formation, electrode degradation, and long life as a recharge asset.

This effort identifies biological patterns of change in Warfighters during states of physical exertion and physiological (human physical and biochemical functions) mechanisms of physical injury and exertion that will predict musculoskeletal (muscle, bone, tendons, and ligaments), sensory (auditory, ocular, and vestibular), and blunt, blast or accelerative injury.

This effort investigates novel theoretical and methodological approaches to human-agent interactions that enable trustworthy intelligent and survivable command and control, communication, computing, and intelligence for the future force. The effort focuses on creating theory and methods that scale across different combinations of human-machine teams, formation dispersion, and information systems capabilities. This effort focuses on approaches that allow humans to guide multi-scale command and control with reduced human burden.

Description: Discover foundational methods and approaches critical to developing intelligent Command and Control (C2) agents and shared representation of the battlefield to humans and intelligent C2-agents for planning and decision support. These foundational research approaches ultimately enable operations across echelons capable of (1) identifying Windows of Superiority (WoS) from data too large and complex for humans, (2) identifying normally missed, critical decision points, and (3) creating multiple plans with metrics that support Commander assessment and confidence in a fraction of the time currently required.

Lead Army-focused environmental basic research within climatological time frames (multi-year to decades), specifically researching changes and impacts of dynamic processes in the lower atmospheric boundary layer in Multi Domain Operation (MDO) environments (complex terrain and dense-urban) as underpinning science to inform applied research projects in climate impact decision support systems.

This effort seeks to identify novel physics, materials, and architectures for extending spectrum use beyond the current state-of-art (e.g., heavy use of radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) bands with classical network topologies). This effort will investigate novel energy efficient materials, structures, and storage for powering distributed sensors.

This effort seeks to identify novel materials, physics, and architectures to achieve highly non-linear and high-density effects when synchronized in distributed arrays. Research will focus on enablers for emerging applications including electromagnetic (EM) windows for operation in hypersonic plasmas, compact, efficient, and multi-field array elements, intelligent-agent schemas for dynamic arrays, and novel materials for alternate EM bands.

3D numerical modeling basic research activities are scattered and insular, not effectively leveraging the combined capabilities of Government, Academia, and Industry. The problems are diverse and complicated and need a focused and multi-disciplinary approach to gain fundamental understanding. This effort will build an ecosystem for foundational modeling and research in semiconductor materials and devices that leverages the broad combined knowledge base from academia, industry, and government laboratories to develop new and advanced semiconductor materials and devices for sensors, emitters, neuromorphic, and topological device applications.

This effort applies a cybernetic approach (i.e., a theoretical study and comparison of communication and control processes in biological and artificial systems) to human systems integration to achieve tighter control of devices and communications among humans and between machines and humans. Use social, computational, and informational approaches to extend the scope of interaction beyond individual systems to the full network context.

This effort investigates technologies that provide the foundation for future Army systems to adapt to individual Soldier states, behaviors, and intentions in real-time. Enable high fidelity, continuous prediction that can account for continuous changes in Soldier physical, cognitive, and social states, such as stress, fatigue, task difficulty, trust, and situational awareness.

Basic research focused on enabling robust autonomous mobility for small and human-scale robotic systems, including autonomous teaming behavior with hybrid human-robotic teams. Enablers for robust autonomous mobility include planning, behaviors, energy efficient maneuver, and the interface of manipulation technologies to support manned-unmanned teaming constructs.

Pursue research in autonomous systems that supports and unburdens Soldiers in a flexible, robust, survivable, and comprehensive manner. This work addresses the cognitive requirements of humans and (non-human) agents, both hardware and software based, operating individually or in collaboration, on the battlefield. Emphasis is placed on perception, reasoning, and collaboration techniques that can apply to and transfer between a broad range of systems (i.e., adaptive communication and data collection networks; crowd-sourcing and information retrieval software agents; and predictive and explanatory decision support systems).

This effort supports basic research in polymer science and textile technology, nano and biotechnology, and multifunctional materials to achieve technologies that support the Soldier of the future through multi-functional materials with clothing/protective equipment functionality that also embody electronic functionality.

This effort conducts research in modeling, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductor materials and structures that leads to revolutionary device functionality in sensing, low power electronics, quantum networks, and power generation. This effort investigates novel complex crystal structures that can lead to devices with performance beyond normal semiconductor transistors, including neuromorphic computing structures and topological insulator based heterostructure with low operating voltage.

The research in this Project focuses on manufacturing processes to achieve transformational lethality. This involves the development of converging virtual manufacturing using heterogeneous materials in one platform, while implementing additive, subtractive, transformative, and bulk manufacturing.

Expand and confirm physics based models and validation techniques to enable design of novel insensitive propellants and explosives with tailored energy release for revolutionary future force survivability and weapons effectiveness.

This effort seeks to improve fundamental knowledge of mechanisms that can be exploited to ensure the next generation of lightweight and efficient armor technologies. Provides physics-based discovery of novel Soldier protection mechanisms through increased understanding of wave propagation through tissue and the resulting deformation and damage of tissue during ballistic and blast events.

Explore novel approaches of innovative data analytics, bio-inspired materials, and chemical experimentation to understand basic principles of biological and chemical mechanisms, organisms, and natural processes of the environment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

This effort explores the foundational, computational, data, and mathematical scientific underpinnings required to inform accurate and rapid simulations of physical, environmental, and fiduciary components of complex military systems. The effort seeks to provide fundamental discoveries to support digital engineering processes and accelerate the future Army's digital transformation strategy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

Perform research to provide communications capability for a fully-mobile, fully-communicating, and situationally- aware force operating in a highly dynamic, wireless, mobile networking environment populated by hundreds to thousands of networked nodes. This research includes techniques that enable predictions of performance and stability of large, complex communications networks. It takes into account the impact of Soldier information needs, modalities of access and use of communication networks in complex adversarial environments, high mobility, and adversarial effects such as jamming or cyber-attacks. Also to be considered are computational modeling approaches that capture dynamics of information that flows through the network and/or is stored within the network, and undergoes continual changes as new information arrives and other information ages or is refuted/superseded by newly arrived information.

Research a laboratory-scale common information processing infrastructure, inclusive of cloud computing, for networking processes that aids the transformation of data into actionable intelligence to support decision-making under uncertainty. Perform research to utilize real-time, tactical, Soldier-centric information for improved decision-making and situational awareness. Perform research in support of rapidly enhancing long-duration, complex, dynamic decision-making capabilities of individual Warfighters and units through the integration of cognitive augmentation and course of action recommender technologies.

Perform research on protecting information in highly mobile, wireless tactical environments, where networks must operate under severe bandwidth, energy, and processing constraints, and without reliance on centralized security services.

Investigate advanced computing and high performance computing (HPC) networking architectures, memory/storage architectures, processing algorithms, and visualization techniques to support advanced battle command applications for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems.

Conduct research that will enhance the survivability of information by radically dispersing and continuously moving data across a multitude of inter-networked devices. This effort seeks to address the growing demands on information assurance, reliability, and transmission in resource constrained environments. Theories and methods will be investigated for securing information across heterogeneous devices/sources and networks, detecting and creating information obfuscation and deception techniques, managing risk of information quality and trust, and fusing and regenerating needs-relevant information from highly fragmented and dispersed data.

This effort researches methodologies and algorithms for machine learning with incomplete, unstructured, potentially deceptive, and heterogeneous information, enabling joint decision making for Intelligent Agent-Human teams which adapt to unknown environments and missions. Research includes methods for learning and decision making that occur under short time frames and constrained resources (e.g., computation, power, spectrum, and networks).

This effort addresses the power draw (demand) of radio frequency (RF) front ends for communication and electronic materials for the digital back-end, as well as efficient materials for delivery of power (supply) for electronics on energy constrained platforms. The work explores new materials with inherently higher energy efficiencies in conjunction with advances in circuits and systems to provide improvements in power efficiencies, linearity, and noise at the subsystem level for unique Army requirements for demand and supply electronics.

This effort investigates interactions between light and quantum systems, including atoms, ions, and solid-state materials, for developing the fundamental building blocks of distributed quantum systems. A particular emphasis is efficient light matter interfaces, including optical cavities, nanophotonics, and high density atomic systems. This effort also explores quantum algorithms for entanglement distribution.

Advancing Concepts identifies emerging and disruptive basic scientific research outcomes to translate, integrate, and ingrain research outcomes with Army Warfighting Concepts to ensure that the Army of tomorrow is achievable. Technology Forecasting provides long-range, scientifically grounded technology forecasts of basic research topics to enable informed decision-making.

This effort investigates new methodologies and techniques for improved scene and situational understanding using multi-modal imaging sensors from heterogeneous air and ground platforms. This work explores novel machine learning approaches for applications in resource constrained environments.

The MRI is a university-based social science research program initiated by the Secretary of Defense. It focuses on areas in the social sciences of strategic importance to national security policy. It seeks to increase the Department's intellectual capital in basic social science research to address future challenges by bringing together universities in multidisciplinary approaches to address global social and geopolitical questions. MRI will bring together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars to support multidisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Department.

The HBCU/MI Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (HBCU/MI ECASE) is modeled from the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) award, which embodies the high priority placed by the government on maintaining the leadership position of the United States in science by producing outstanding scientists and engineers and nurturing their continued development. The HBCU/MI ECASE awards will specifically seek outstanding U.S. citizen scientists and engineers beginning their careers at HBCU/MIs. Each award will provide significant support for students and internships within DEVCOM ARL or at Army-funded academic laboratories.

This effort integrates neuroscience with traditional approaches to understanding Soldier behavior to enable system designs that maximize Soldier performance.

This effort investigates methods for joint human/intelligent agent learning and decision making so that strengths of individual humans and intelligent agents are accentuated and weaknesses are mitigated for improved, emergent group performance. This effort emphasizes deep learning approaches that function under conditions of limited, mismatched, or dynamic data.

This effort merges novel advances in human-system sciences with neuroscience and training sciences to reconceive human brain processes and optimize human-machine thinking to allow humans to influence technology enabled decisions previously believed to be outside of human capabilities. The effort aims to optimize how humans could think within complex human-technology ecosystems to maximize human potential to adapt the Army on the battlefield.

Explore novel concepts in safe, domestic, high energy density storage and generation to meet and sustain the increasing energy needs of current and future Army technologies such as realizing electrification for autonomous systems, silent watch, and mounted/dismounted platforms. Conduct basic research on new materials for energy storage and generation through the exploration of isomers, multi-fuel tolerant materials, energy conversion approaches, rechargeable multivalent batteries, and conversion cathode battery chemistries.

This research addresses Army-unique issues in fundamental materials research involving the performance of advanced materials at high deformation rates for applications including armor and armaments. Fundamental understanding is developed to enable design, processing, and characterization of materials specifically intended for high loading-rate applications, including improved physics based models, methods to characterize materials microstructure, interfaces, and defects and their role on materials response, and the determination of rate-dependent constitutive and failure/fracture behavior of materials.

New algorithms and methods are developed to account for a variety of complex-terrain physical processes in microscale models. Novel instrumentation and observational methods are developed to advance the understanding of physical processes in the atmosphere. Employ optical techniques to advance detection methods for chemical/biological agents mixed in with atmospheric constituents. Data from high-resolution instrumentation arrays are used to advance and verify evolving atmospheric characterization theory focused on complex terrain and dense urban areas.

This effort conducts research on innovative environmentally-friendly technologies that support the warfighter focusing on pollution prevention technologies.

Research will focus on novel terminal ballistic designs utilizing engineered materials to provide lightweight protection and low-energy penetrator solutions for combat-relevant threats. Specific architecture materials will be identified and utilized based on high-throughput material synthesis and characterization, and data-driven physics based modeling approaches.

This research includes modeling of advanced battery materials and structures, and modeling of electromagnetic fields interacting with catalytic materials. High bandgap materials including silicon carbide and gallium nitride with modified composition will be used to fabricate diodes for improved performance as optical communication sources, sensors, and high power components. Materials, designs, and fabrication techniques will be studied for the future development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for radio frequency (RF) devices and sensors.

This effort explores new materials, novel device architectures, and unique processing techniques to successfully maintain communication and information sharing protocols in GPS-denied, actively jammed, or austere environments.

This research seeks to investigate novel signal processing techniques to develop distributed, Global Positioning System (GPS)-independent, autonomous capabilities. This effort investigates tools and techniques for modeling, simulations, and emulation of distributed radio frequency (RF) sensors and effectors. This research investigates advanced materials-based antennas for low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C), multi-function systems.

This effort explores innovative methods to remotely sense and discriminate threat vehicle formations deep in the battlefield. This effort investigates novel mechanical wave sensing physics to enhance signal features in complex and high noise environments as well as investigates fundamental properties of electric field (E-field) and Magnetic (H)- field signals in cluttered environments.

This effort seeks to develop the fundamental understanding necessary to realize complex effects utilizing multiple geographically distributed sensor-effector nodes. This effort will develop new computational methods to accomplish simulations of complex systems that are intractable with current methods due to required interactions of multiple, dynamic physics formulations. This effort will pursue modelling and simulation to identify robust state spaces for distributed apertures capable of beam-forming, cross modal, and coherent sense and effect. Additionally, this effort will investigate sensitivity to synchronization quality and identify opportunities for cancellation and self-referencing. Focal instances include electronic warfare (EW), laser sense and effect, and kinetic effects. Science of design concepts will be investigated to efficiently pare down complex physical systems into tractable solutions including topology optimization and co-design.

This effort will research characterizing and communicating the uncertainty inherent in machine learning models or artificial intelligence (AI) systems in a transparent and interpretable manner. AI explainability is crucial for actionable AI assessments: providing insights into the confidence or reliability of assessments, predictions, and decisions made by these models, and enabling users to understand and trust the system's outputs. This effort will investigate techniques to provide quantifiable estimates of various forms of uncertainty associated with model predictions, computing end-to-end model uncertainty for distributed AI, and understanding the uncertainty associated with reasoning on unmodeled phenomena.

This effort conducts fundamental research on the physiological mechanisms of sleep, fatigue, and nutrition on Soldier health, readiness, and performance. In addition, this effort discovers basic understanding of physiological and genetic processes leading to biomedical performance enhancement in in the physical, cognitive, and psychological domains.

This effort involves the understanding of physiological (human physical and biochemical functions) mechanisms of exposure to extreme heat, cold, altitude, and other environmental stressors. This effort establishes scientific evidence for specific and sensitive diagnostics of exertional heat illness to optimize Warfighter performance in austere environments.

Explores fundamental research informing infrastructure science, robotics, autonomous construction, three-dimensional (3D) printing materials, self-assembly and advanced or innovative material science as related to advancing future military infrastructure, construction, and Engineer operations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

This effort funds the underlying fundamental science of Lethality and Protection Superiority for guided missile and rocket systems, unmanned vehicles, and related components.

Existing machine-learning approaches are not guided by the laws governing physical systems and unable to provide predictions of a physical system response with quantifiable uncertainty. Research will explore and develop modeling techniques incorporating machine-learning approaches to support fundamental studies of physical systems. Resulting models will be used to design and develop novel physical systems, such as diamond for high power RF applications.

This effort investigates and matures novel laser gain materials and other laser components with advanced thermal, thermo-mechanical, and thermo-optical properties. This effort investigates new materials and methods for controlling thermal transients to reduce the size and weight of thermal management components while increasing the energy magazine of systems operating in burst modes.

Chemical-Biological Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Science (CBAMMS) program activities are related to performing basic research in chemistry, biology, physics, and material science to investigate interactions between materials and surfaces and between materials, catalysis, and energy dispersion/disruption that will advance the knowledge related to chemical and biological sensors, obscurants, and bio-manufacturing.

Improve the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms controlling the launch and flight of gun-launched projectiles and missiles and understand the interaction of these weapons with armored targets.

Explore new biology-based methods for controlled synthesis and assembly to create materials with precise chemistries, microstructures, properties, and responsive functionalities through controlled molecular placement, spatial architectures, and interfacial structures. This research utilizes biological platforms that can act as micro-environments to control local thermodynamics and kinetics to govern reactions and molecular assembly, thereby providing completely new pathways for materials discovery.

Discover novel building block materials that provide disruptive protection mechanisms. Research includes synthesis, processing, characterization, and modeling to discover new 1D and 2D building block materials and associated assembly into protective membranes, smart fibers and films, and other molecular composite architectures.

Explore interactions between materials and intense energy fields (e.g., magnetic, electric, pressure, etc.) to discover new pathways and mechanisms for controlling and altering material structure, enabling the development of new materials with unique property combinations and abilities to respond adaptively to battlefield conditions.

This effort explores new materials and creates new computational capabilities based upon fundamental concepts derived from studies of structure, process, and property relationships at the microscopic and nanostructural levels. Research includes synthesis, processing, characterization, and modeling of novel metal alloys and armor ceramics, including control and manipulation of nanostructural features, grain boundaries, texture, and other nano-to-microscale structure.

Research in support of advanced military mobility technologies with emphasis on Terramechanics (vehicle-terrain interaction), and complex vehicle dynamics and simulation. This includes developing the data and underlying models to simulate and predict autonomous vehicle mobility in soft soil and complex organic terrain under a variety of environments. Research is directed at understanding advanced mathematical and computational methodologies using state-of-the-art analytical and empirical procedures.

Create robust experimental and computational approaches for understanding, modeling, and predicting the complex fluid flow and aerodynamics of next generation rotorcraft concepts. This research includes innovative numerical methods for capturing the details of steady state and non-steady state aerodynamics and acoustics occurring with multi-rotor, rotor-propeller, and rotor hub configurations; and associated experimental techniques needed to verify modeling results.

Basic research focused on topics that contribute to the body of knowledge required to create future intelligent, unmanned air systems that can effectively team with manned and unmanned aircraft, ground platforms, and human teammates. Emphasis is placed on topics of control and aeromechanics that expand the operational envelope for unmanned systems and enable maneuverability in complex, interactive, and mission relevant environments.

This basic research effort develops a holistic model to understand and inform individual and group learning across assignments, platforms, and contexts throughout the career span.

Basic research in reconfigurable platform mechanics and propulsion science to investigate technologies to enable subsystem configuration concepts for efficient hover and high-speed/range Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Explore novel concepts in energy generation and capture in technologies for efficient conversion of ambient energy to electrical energy for use and storage. Design novel structures to include microscale power devices for multimodal harvesting and efficient distributed power conversion. Focus areas include: energy storage and release from atomic nuclei, new electrochemical materials and processes for energy storage and conversion, and new approaches for solar energy harvesting.

Basic research to enable highly efficient, multi-fuel conversion in small engines with reduced sensitivity to fuel property variation and extreme ambient conditions. This includes research to characterize and investigate extreme fuel properties on ignition chemistry, variable spark enabling concepts for robust ignition, and lightweight highly durable materials for reduced heat loss and wear characteristics.

Basic research to investigate concepts and theories to provide enhanced tools, methods, and innovative concepts to enable improvements in propulsion power density, energy efficiency, reliability, and lifecycle costs for increased performance and capabilities in future Army systems.

Multi-disciplinary effort to understand and characterize emerging energy field biological effects to address the need to develop a mechanistic understanding, from the molecular/cellular level and beyond, which energy delivery can produce tracible biological effects. Discover transformational mechanisms by which energy fields affect biological function or structure, via experimentation, modeling, and simulation. Create knowledge products and materials towards sensors, Soldier protection, energy scavenging, and other adaptive measures. Integrate physical and biological models with experimentation to understand energy propagation, coupling, and effects on biological materials and systems.

This effort researches the concept of responsive materials imparting living functions for operation in Army-relevant environments to enable disruptive capabilities, such as self-healing, adaptation, protection, and situational awareness. Perform research to enable design and synthesis of materials both enabled by and including biological entities to provide these living functions.

This effort investigates biological materials for devices and sensors that can be used in the future by the Army to improve force protection and reduce logistical burden. Investigates biological construction of novel materials, structures, and processes for future development of biologically derived materials, sensing materials, information processing, and power and energy to transcend critical gaps in adaptability, manufacturability, and stability in Army relevant environments.

This effort fosters the creation of new mathematical tools and methods for performing complex, multi-system analysis and modeling to enhance Soldier and weapon-system performance. More specifically, the focus is on creating mathematical principles and practical algorithms for stochastic analysis and control, analysis and control of biological systems, numerical computation of infinite-dimensional systems, and modeling of irregular geometric and social phenomena.

This effort focuses on gaining an understanding of the fundamental aspects of how networks develop, function, and adapt to the environment and the rate of information flow in man-made and naturally occurring networks. This understanding will have a direct impact on net-centric force operations, such as better communication system design and operations, and more efficient logistics or communications support.

This effort provides the backbone for performing complex, multi-system analysis, modeling, and simulation for understanding information systems. Advancements in computer sciences have a direct impact on enhancing the Warfighters' decision-making and situation awareness.

This effort focuses on improved understanding of propulsion and combustion for improved efficiency and fuel flexibility, energetics initiation for insensitive munitions, fluid dynamics for rotorcraft, complex dynamic systems for novel sensors, energy generation and multi-dimensional systems, and solid mechanics especially at high strain rates in composite materials for novel armor and protection systems.

Research that provides innovations in materials design and process through the elucidation of fundamental relationships linking composition, microstructure, defect structure, processing and properties of materials. Revolutionary materials provide support for the Army in firepower, mobility, communications, personnel protection, infrastructure and installations, and will directly affect virtually all mission areas.

This effort fosters discoveries in electronic sensing, optoelectronics, solid state and high frequency science, electromagnetics, microwaves, and power electronics for situational awareness, communications, information processing, electro- magnetic warfare, and power efficiency.

This effort fosters research in many subfields of physics, including condensed matter physics, optical physics, atomic and molecular physics, and quantum information, with an emphasis on discovering new realms of quantum and optical phenomena. Pursuit of fundamental physics in these subfields provides new opportunities for future developments in superior optics, ultra-sensitive sensors, and novel electronic architectures for classical and quantum computing.

This effort fosters basic research to achieve advanced energy control, improved threat detection, and novel responsive materials for Soldier protection. Research efforts will lead to: light-weight, reliable, compact power sources, more effective, lower vulnerability propellants and explosives for tailored precision strikes with minimum collateral damage, new approaches for shielding the Soldier and Army platforms from ballistic, chemical, and biological threats, and reducing signatures for identification by the enemy, and advance warning of explosive, chemical, and biological weapons and dangerous industrial chemicals.

This effort fosters fundamental discoveries in life sciences with the ultimate goal of facilitating the development of novel biomaterials to greatly enhance Soldier protection and performance. More specifically: i) molecular genetics research that pursues fundamental studies in molecular and systems biology, and genetics; ii) neurosciences research to investigate the physiology underlying perception, neuro-motor output, and potential methods of monitoring cognitive states during activity; iii) biochemistry research focused on studies in structural and cell biology, metabolic processes, and biophysics; iv) research in microbiology that pursues studies in microbial physiology, ecology, and evolution; v) social science research that aims to elucidate the social, cultural, and other influences to human actions; and vi) auditory and signal processing research that maps the cognitive implications of multisensory information integration.

This effort funds basic research for aviation enabling technologies in the areas of aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and material science.

Funds basic research for communication and network enabling technologies in the areas of antenna design, network management, power generation and storage, and sensors.

This effort funds basic research for aviation enabling technologies in the areas of aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and material science.

This effort funds basic research in food sciences, textiles, and lightweight materials with potential for individual protection.

This effort funds basic research in ground vehicle technologies, including power, mobility, and unmanned systems.

Funds basic research in weapons component physics, explosives synthesis/detection, and the fundamental science base of area denial.

Conduct advanced, high-risk, basic research that explores new phenomenology at the boundaries of chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics. Specifically, conduct fundamental research in novel materials, synthetic biology, novel sensing, molecular toxicology, obscuration, explosives forensics, aerosol sciences, and machine learning.

This effort provides ILIR at USASMDC-TC. This basic research and directed energy lays the foundation for future developmental efforts on directed energy systems by identifying the fundamental principles governing various scientific phenomena with the goal of developing technologies that will significantly revolutionize Directed Energy weapon systems of the future.

This basic research effort develops advanced psychometric theory and measurement of Soldiers and teams in order to maximize talent management.

Conduct fundamental studies on the theory and modeling of future revolutionary geological, structural, and signature reducing materials; and examine, investigate and model complex geophysical, littoral, and other environments that fill critical Army knowledge gaps in adaptive protection and projection. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

Investigates compact mathematical representations of terrain data; explores automated learning of built elemental features unique to location; formulates new techniques for automatically retrieving Earth surface features, properties and patterns; explores sensing phenomenology and surface state as affected by terrain and weather; studies optimizing and adapting decision making based on changing geospatial conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, and Information Technology Laboratory

This effort studies artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques to understand and reason about fleeting Windows of Opportunity (WoO) rapidly enough to enable them to be exploited. This includes multi-faceted AI approaches that can sense and assess the quality of a domain (e.g. cyber) WoO in space and time while understanding its scope, vulnerabilities, and resilience. Reasoning techniques that can explain and identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses are critical to provide actionable assessments; priority indicators and collection requirements are needed to develop sensing strategies; and computationally efficient inferencing algorithms are required to rapidly assess dynamic and fleeting WoO.

This basic research effort develops advanced methods and models to understand the relationship of human states, traits, and behaviors on individual, group, and organizational dynamics.

This effort merges novel advances in human-system sciences with neuroscience and training sciences to reconceive human brain processes and optimize human-machine thinking to allow humans to influence technology enabled decisions previously believed to be outside of human capabilities. The effort aims to optimize how humans could think within complex human-technology ecosystems to maximize human potential to adapt the Army on the battlefield.

This effort seeks to identify novel physics, materials, and architectures for extending spectrum use beyond the current state-of-art (e.g., heavy use of radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) bands with classical network topologies). This effort will investigate novel energy efficient materials, structures, and storage for powering distributed sensors.

This effort seeks to identify novel materials, physics, and architectures to achieve highly non-linear and high-density effects when synchronized in distributed arrays. Research will focus on enablers for emerging applications including electromagnetic (EM) windows for operation in hypersonic plasmas, compact, efficient, and multi-field array elements, intelligent-agent schemas for dynamic arrays, and novel materials for alternate EM bands.

This effort investigates biological materials for devices and sensors that can be used in the future by the Army to improve force protection and reduce logistical burden. Investigates biological construction of novel materials, structures, and processes for future development of biologically derived materials, sensing materials, information processing, and power and energy to transcend critical gaps in adaptability, manufacturability, and stability in Army relevant environments.

This effort fosters fundamental discoveries in life sciences with the ultimate goal of facilitating the development of novel biomaterials to greatly enhance Soldier protection and performance. More specifically: i) molecular genetics research that pursues fundamental studies in molecular and systems biology, and genetics; ii) neurosciences research to investigate the physiology underlying perception, neuro-motor output, and potential methods of monitoring cognitive states during activity; iii) biochemistry research focused on studies in structural and cell biology, metabolic processes, and biophysics; iv) research in microbiology that pursues studies in microbial physiology, ecology, and evolution; v) social science research that aims to elucidate the social, cultural, and other influences to human actions; and vi) auditory and signal processing research that maps the cognitive implications of multisensory information integration.

This effort fosters basic research to achieve advanced energy control, improved threat detection, and novel responsive materials for Soldier protection. Research efforts will lead to: light-weight, reliable, compact power sources, more effective, lower vulnerability propellants and explosives for tailored precision strikes with minimum collateral damage, new approaches for shielding the Soldier and Army platforms from ballistic, chemical, and biological threats, and reducing signatures for identification by the enemy, and advance warning of explosive, chemical, and biological weapons and dangerous industrial chemicals.

This effort fosters research in many subfields of physics, including condensed matter physics, optical physics, atomic and molecular physics, and quantum information, with an emphasis on discovering new realms of quantum and optical phenomena. Pursuit of fundamental physics in these subfields provides new opportunities for future developments in superior optics, ultra-sensitive sensors, and novel electronic architectures for classical and quantum computing.

This effort fosters discoveries in electronic sensing, optoelectronics, solid state and high frequency science, electromagnetics, microwaves, and power electronics for situational awareness, communications, information processing, electro- magnetic warfare, and power efficiency.

Research that provides innovations in materials design and process through the elucidation of fundamental relationships linking composition, microstructure, defect structure, processing and properties of materials. Revolutionary materials provide support for the Army in firepower, mobility, communications, personnel protection, infrastructure and installations, and will directly affect virtually all mission areas.

This effort focuses on improved understanding of propulsion and combustion for improved efficiency and fuel flexibility, energetics initiation for insensitive munitions, fluid dynamics for rotorcraft, complex dynamic systems for novel sensors, energy generation and multi-dimensional systems, and solid mechanics especially at high strain rates in composite materials for novel armor and protection systems.

This effort provides the backbone for performing complex, multi-system analysis, modeling, and simulation for understanding information systems. Advancements in computer sciences have a direct impact on enhancing the Warfighters' decision-making and situation awareness.

This effort focuses on gaining an understanding of the fundamental aspects of how networks develop, function, and adapt to the environment and the rate of information flow in man-made and naturally occurring networks. This understanding will have a direct impact on net-centric force operations, such as better communication system design and operations, and more efficient logistics or communications support.

This effort fosters the creation of new mathematical tools and methods for performing complex, multi-system analysis and modeling to enhance Soldier and weapon-system performance. More specifically, the focus is on creating mathematical principles and practical algorithms for stochastic analysis and control, analysis and control of biological systems, numerical computation of infinite-dimensional systems, and modeling of irregular geometric and social phenomena.

This effort supports extramural basic research to create and exploit new scientific discoveries from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) that will improve the Army's transformational capabilities. Areas of interest include chemical sciences, computing sciences, electronics and photonics, life sciences, material sciences, mathematical sciences, mechanical sciences, network sciences, and physics.

This effort supports studies to enable the design of novel materials for energy storage and generation through development of isomers where manipulations to half-life enables the molecules' energy to be harvested, the creation of multi-fuel tolerant electrodes for fuel cells and batteries to avoid contaminant poisoning while preventing electrode degradation, and the emergence of multivalent electrode chemistries and their electrolytes to achieve a higher capacity battery without issues related to dendrite formation, electrode degradation, and long life as a recharge asset.

Lead Army-focused environmental basic research within climatological time frames (multi-year to decades), specifically researching changes and impacts of dynamic processes in the lower atmospheric boundary layer in Multi Domain Operation (MDO) environments (complex terrain and dense-urban) as underpinning science to inform applied research projects in climate impact decision support systems.

The HBCU/MI Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (HBCU/MI ECASE) is modeled from the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) award, which embodies the high priority placed by the government on maintaining the leadership position of the United States in science by producing outstanding scientists and engineers and nurturing their continued development. The HBCU/MI ECASE awards will specifically seek outstanding U.S. citizen scientists and engineers beginning their careers at HBCU/MIs. Each award will provide significant support for students and internships within DEVCOM ARL or at Army-funded academic laboratories.

The MRI is a university-based social science research program initiated by the Secretary of Defense. It focuses on areas in the social sciences of strategic importance to national security policy. It seeks to increase the Department's intellectual capital in basic social science research to address future challenges by bringing together universities in multidisciplinary approaches to address global social and geopolitical questions. MRI will bring together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars to support multidisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Department.

This effort integrates neuroscience with traditional approaches to understanding Soldier behavior to enable system designs that maximize Soldier performance.

This effort applies a cybernetic approach (i.e., a theoretical study and comparison of communication and control processes in biological and artificial systems) to human systems integration to achieve tighter control of devices and communications among humans and between machines and humans. Use social, computational, and informational approaches to extend the scope of interaction beyond individual systems to the full network context.

This effort investigates technologies that provide the foundation for future Army systems to adapt to individual Soldier states, behaviors, and intentions in real-time. Enable high fidelity, continuous prediction that can account for continuous changes in Soldier physical, cognitive, and social states, such as stress, fatigue, task difficulty, trust, and situational awareness.

This effort investigates methods for joint human/intelligent agent learning and decision making so that strengths of individual humans and intelligent agents are accentuated and weaknesses are mitigated for improved, emergent group performance. This effort emphasizes deep learning approaches that function under conditions of limited, mismatched, or dynamic data.

This basic research effort develops advanced psychometric theory and measurement of Soldiers and teams in order to maximize talent management.

This basic research effort develops advanced methods and models to understand the relationship of human states, traits, and behaviors on individual, group, and organizational dynamics.

This basic research effort develops a holistic model to understand and inform individual and group learning across assignments, platforms, and contexts throughout the career span.

Explore novel approaches of innovative data analytics, bio-inspired materials, and chemical experimentation to understand basic principles of biological and chemical mechanisms, organisms, and natural processes of the environment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

This effort conducts fundamental research on the physiological mechanisms of sleep, fatigue, and nutrition on Soldier health, readiness, and performance. In addition, this effort discovers basic understanding of physiological and genetic processes leading to biomedical performance enhancement in in the physical, cognitive, and psychological domains.

Description: Discover foundational methods and approaches critical to developing intelligent Command and Control (C2) agents and shared representation of the battlefield to humans and intelligent C2-agents for planning and decision support. These foundational research approaches ultimately enable operations across echelons capable of (1) identifying Windows of Superiority (WoS) from data too large and complex for humans, (2) identifying normally missed, critical decision points, and (3) creating multiple plans with metrics that support Commander assessment and confidence in a fraction of the time currently required.

This effort investigates novel theoretical and methodological approaches to human-agent interactions that enable trustworthy intelligent and survivable command and control, communication, computing, and intelligence for the future force. The effort focuses on creating theory and methods that scale across different combinations of human-machine teams, formation dispersion, and information systems capabilities. This effort focuses on approaches that allow humans to guide multi-scale command and control with reduced human burden.

This effort involves the understanding of physiological (human physical and biochemical functions) mechanisms of exposure to extreme heat, cold, altitude, and other environmental stressors. This effort establishes scientific evidence for specific and sensitive diagnostics of exertional heat illness to optimize Warfighter performance in austere environments.

This effort will research characterizing and communicating the uncertainty inherent in machine learning models or artificial intelligence (AI) systems in a transparent and interpretable manner. AI explainability is crucial for actionable AI assessments: providing insights into the confidence or reliability of assessments, predictions, and decisions made by these models, and enabling users to understand and trust the system's outputs. This effort will investigate techniques to provide quantifiable estimates of various forms of uncertainty associated with model predictions, computing end-to-end model uncertainty for distributed AI, and understanding the uncertainty associated with reasoning on unmodeled phenomena.

This effort studies artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques to understand and reason about fleeting Windows of Opportunity (WoO) rapidly enough to enable them to be exploited. This includes multi-faceted AI approaches that can sense and assess the quality of a domain (e.g. cyber) WoO in space and time while understanding its scope, vulnerabilities, and resilience. Reasoning techniques that can explain and identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses are critical to provide actionable assessments; priority indicators and collection requirements are needed to develop sensing strategies; and computationally efficient inferencing algorithms are required to rapidly assess dynamic and fleeting WoO.

This effort explores the foundational, computational, data, and mathematical scientific underpinnings required to inform accurate and rapid simulations of physical, environmental, and fiduciary components of complex military systems. The effort seeks to provide fundamental discoveries to support digital engineering processes and accelerate the future Army's digital transformation strategy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

Advancing Concepts identifies emerging and disruptive basic scientific research outcomes to translate, integrate, and ingrain research outcomes with Army Warfighting Concepts to ensure that the Army of tomorrow is achievable. Technology Forecasting provides long-range, scientifically grounded technology forecasts of basic research topics to enable informed decision-making.

Research in support of advanced military mobility technologies with emphasis on Terramechanics (vehicle-terrain interaction), and complex vehicle dynamics and simulation. This includes developing the data and underlying models to simulate and predict autonomous vehicle mobility in soft soil and complex organic terrain under a variety of environments. Research is directed at understanding advanced mathematical and computational methodologies using state-of-the-art analytical and empirical procedures.

Explore novel concepts in safe, domestic, high energy density storage and generation to meet and sustain the increasing energy needs of current and future Army technologies such as realizing electrification for autonomous systems, silent watch, and mounted/dismounted platforms. Conduct basic research on new materials for energy storage and generation through the exploration of isomers, multi-fuel tolerant materials, energy conversion approaches, rechargeable multivalent batteries, and conversion cathode battery chemistries.

Chemical-Biological Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Science (CBAMMS) program activities are related to performing basic research in chemistry, biology, physics, and material science to investigate interactions between materials and surfaces and between materials, catalysis, and energy dispersion/disruption that will advance the knowledge related to chemical and biological sensors, obscurants, and bio-manufacturing.

Explores fundamental research informing infrastructure science, robotics, autonomous construction, three-dimensional (3D) printing materials, self-assembly and advanced or innovative material science as related to advancing future military infrastructure, construction, and Engineer operations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

This effort identifies biological patterns of change in Warfighters during states of physical exertion and physiological (human physical and biochemical functions) mechanisms of physical injury and exertion that will predict musculoskeletal (muscle, bone, tendons, and ligaments), sensory (auditory, ocular, and vestibular), and blunt, blast or accelerative injury.

Investigates compact mathematical representations of terrain data; explores automated learning of built elemental features unique to location; formulates new techniques for automatically retrieving Earth surface features, properties and patterns; explores sensing phenomenology and surface state as affected by terrain and weather; studies optimizing and adapting decision making based on changing geospatial conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, and Information Technology Laboratory

Conduct fundamental studies on the theory and modeling of future revolutionary geological, structural, and signature reducing materials; and examine, investigate and model complex geophysical, littoral, and other environments that fill critical Army knowledge gaps in adaptive protection and projection. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center executes this research at the organization's laboratories to include the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geospatial Research Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, Information Technology Laboratory.

This effort researches the concept of responsive materials imparting living functions for operation in Army-relevant environments to enable disruptive capabilities, such as self-healing, adaptation, protection, and situational awareness. Perform research to enable design and synthesis of materials both enabled by and including biological entities to provide these living functions.

Improve the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms controlling the launch and flight of gun-launched projectiles and missiles and understand the interaction of these weapons with armored targets.

Conduct advanced, high-risk, basic research that explores new phenomenology at the boundaries of chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics. Specifically, conduct fundamental research in novel materials, synthetic biology, novel sensing, molecular toxicology, obscuration, explosives forensics, aerosol sciences, and machine learning.

Funds basic research in weapons component physics, explosives synthesis/detection, and the fundamental science base of area denial.

This effort funds basic research in ground vehicle technologies, including power, mobility, and unmanned systems.

This effort funds basic research in food sciences, textiles, and lightweight materials with potential for individual protection.

This effort funds the underlying fundamental science of Lethality and Protection Superiority for guided missile and rocket systems, unmanned vehicles, and related components.

This effort funds basic research for aviation enabling technologies in the areas of aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and material science.

Funds basic research for communication and network enabling technologies in the areas of antenna design, network management, power generation and storage, and sensors.

This effort funds basic research for aviation enabling technologies in the areas of aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and material science.

This effort provides ILIR at USASMDC-TC. This basic research and directed energy lays the foundation for future developmental efforts on directed energy systems by identifying the fundamental principles governing various scientific phenomena with the goal of developing technologies that will significantly revolutionize Directed Energy weapon systems of the future.

This effort investigates interactions between light and quantum systems, including atoms, ions, and solid-state materials, for developing the fundamental building blocks of distributed quantum systems. A particular emphasis is efficient light matter interfaces, including optical cavities, nanophotonics, and high density atomic systems. This effort also explores quantum algorithms for entanglement distribution.

This effort addresses the power draw (demand) of radio frequency (RF) front ends for communication and electronic materials for the digital back-end, as well as efficient materials for delivery of power (supply) for electronics on energy constrained platforms. The work explores new materials with inherently higher energy efficiencies in conjunction with advances in circuits and systems to provide improvements in power efficiencies, linearity, and noise at the subsystem level for unique Army requirements for demand and supply electronics.

This effort investigates new methodologies and techniques for improved scene and situational understanding using multi-modal imaging sensors from heterogeneous air and ground platforms. This work explores novel machine learning approaches for applications in resource constrained environments.

This effort researches methodologies and algorithms for machine learning with incomplete, unstructured, potentially deceptive, and heterogeneous information, enabling joint decision making for Intelligent Agent-Human teams which adapt to unknown environments and missions. Research includes methods for learning and decision making that occur under short time frames and constrained resources (e.g., computation, power, spectrum, and networks).

Conduct research that will enhance the survivability of information by radically dispersing and continuously moving data across a multitude of inter-networked devices. This effort seeks to address the growing demands on information assurance, reliability, and transmission in resource constrained environments. Theories and methods will be investigated for securing information across heterogeneous devices/sources and networks, detecting and creating information obfuscation and deception techniques, managing risk of information quality and trust, and fusing and regenerating needs-relevant information from highly fragmented and dispersed data.

Investigate advanced computing and high performance computing (HPC) networking architectures, memory/storage architectures, processing algorithms, and visualization techniques to support advanced battle command applications for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems.

Perform research on protecting information in highly mobile, wireless tactical environments, where networks must operate under severe bandwidth, energy, and processing constraints, and without reliance on centralized security services.

Research a laboratory-scale common information processing infrastructure, inclusive of cloud computing, for networking processes that aids the transformation of data into actionable intelligence to support decision-making under uncertainty. Perform research to utilize real-time, tactical, Soldier-centric information for improved decision-making and situational awareness. Perform research in support of rapidly enhancing long-duration, complex, dynamic decision-making capabilities of individual Warfighters and units through the integration of cognitive augmentation and course of action recommender technologies.

Perform research to provide communications capability for a fully-mobile, fully-communicating, and situationally- aware force operating in a highly dynamic, wireless, mobile networking environment populated by hundreds to thousands of networked nodes. This research includes techniques that enable predictions of performance and stability of large, complex communications networks. It takes into account the impact of Soldier information needs, modalities of access and use of communication networks in complex adversarial environments, high mobility, and adversarial effects such as jamming or cyber-attacks. Also to be considered are computational modeling approaches that capture dynamics of information that flows through the network and/or is stored within the network, and undergoes continual changes as new information arrives and other information ages or is refuted/superseded by newly arrived information.

This effort seeks to develop the fundamental understanding necessary to realize complex effects utilizing multiple geographically distributed sensor-effector nodes. This effort will develop new computational methods to accomplish simulations of complex systems that are intractable with current methods due to required interactions of multiple, dynamic physics formulations. This effort will pursue modelling and simulation to identify robust state spaces for distributed apertures capable of beam-forming, cross modal, and coherent sense and effect. Additionally, this effort will investigate sensitivity to synchronization quality and identify opportunities for cancellation and self-referencing. Focal instances include electronic warfare (EW), laser sense and effect, and kinetic effects. Science of design concepts will be investigated to efficiently pare down complex physical systems into tractable solutions including topology optimization and co-design.

This effort explores innovative methods to remotely sense and discriminate threat vehicle formations deep in the battlefield. This effort investigates novel mechanical wave sensing physics to enhance signal features in complex and high noise environments as well as investigates fundamental properties of electric field (E-field) and Magnetic (H)- field signals in cluttered environments.

This research seeks to investigate novel signal processing techniques to develop distributed, Global Positioning System (GPS)-independent, autonomous capabilities. This effort investigates tools and techniques for modeling, simulations, and emulation of distributed radio frequency (RF) sensors and effectors. This research investigates advanced materials-based antennas for low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C), multi-function systems.

3D numerical modeling basic research activities are scattered and insular, not effectively leveraging the combined capabilities of Government, Academia, and Industry. The problems are diverse and complicated and need a focused and multi-disciplinary approach to gain fundamental understanding. This effort will build an ecosystem for foundational modeling and research in semiconductor materials and devices that leverages the broad combined knowledge base from academia, industry, and government laboratories to develop new and advanced semiconductor materials and devices for sensors, emitters, neuromorphic, and topological device applications.

Existing machine-learning approaches are not guided by the laws governing physical systems and unable to provide predictions of a physical system response with quantifiable uncertainty. Research will explore and develop modeling techniques incorporating machine-learning approaches to support fundamental studies of physical systems. Resulting models will be used to design and develop novel physical systems, such as diamond for high power RF applications.

This effort investigates and matures novel laser gain materials and other laser components with advanced thermal, thermo-mechanical, and thermo-optical properties. This effort investigates new materials and methods for controlling thermal transients to reduce the size and weight of thermal management components while increasing the energy magazine of systems operating in burst modes.

This effort supports basic research in polymer science and textile technology, nano and biotechnology, and multifunctional materials to achieve technologies that support the Soldier of the future through multi-functional materials with clothing/protective equipment functionality that also embody electronic functionality.

This effort explores new materials, novel device architectures, and unique processing techniques to successfully maintain communication and information sharing protocols in GPS-denied, actively jammed, or austere environments.

This research includes modeling of advanced battery materials and structures, and modeling of electromagnetic fields interacting with catalytic materials. High bandgap materials including silicon carbide and gallium nitride with modified composition will be used to fabricate diodes for improved performance as optical communication sources, sensors, and high power components. Materials, designs, and fabrication techniques will be studied for the future development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for radio frequency (RF) devices and sensors.

This effort conducts research in modeling, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductor materials and structures that leads to revolutionary device functionality in sensing, low power electronics, quantum networks, and power generation. This effort investigates novel complex crystal structures that can lead to devices with performance beyond normal semiconductor transistors, including neuromorphic computing structures and topological insulator based heterostructure with low operating voltage.

The research in this Project focuses on manufacturing processes to achieve transformational lethality. This involves the development of converging virtual manufacturing using heterogeneous materials in one platform, while implementing additive, subtractive, transformative, and bulk manufacturing.

Research will focus on novel terminal ballistic designs utilizing engineered materials to provide lightweight protection and low-energy penetrator solutions for combat-relevant threats. Specific architecture materials will be identified and utilized based on high-throughput material synthesis and characterization, and data-driven physics based modeling approaches.

This effort conducts research on innovative environmentally-friendly technologies that support the warfighter focusing on pollution prevention technologies.

New algorithms and methods are developed to account for a variety of complex-terrain physical processes in microscale models. Novel instrumentation and observational methods are developed to advance the understanding of physical processes in the atmosphere. Employ optical techniques to advance detection methods for chemical/biological agents mixed in with atmospheric constituents. Data from high-resolution instrumentation arrays are used to advance and verify evolving atmospheric characterization theory focused on complex terrain and dense urban areas.

Expand and confirm physics based models and validation techniques to enable design of novel insensitive propellants and explosives with tailored energy release for revolutionary future force survivability and weapons effectiveness.

Explore new biology-based methods for controlled synthesis and assembly to create materials with precise chemistries, microstructures, properties, and responsive functionalities through controlled molecular placement, spatial architectures, and interfacial structures. This research utilizes biological platforms that can act as micro-environments to control local thermodynamics and kinetics to govern reactions and molecular assembly, thereby providing completely new pathways for materials discovery.

Discover novel building block materials that provide disruptive protection mechanisms. Research includes synthesis, processing, characterization, and modeling to discover new 1D and 2D building block materials and associated assembly into protective membranes, smart fibers and films, and other molecular composite architectures.

Explore interactions between materials and intense energy fields (e.g., magnetic, electric, pressure, etc.) to discover new pathways and mechanisms for controlling and altering material structure, enabling the development of new materials with unique property combinations and abilities to respond adaptively to battlefield conditions.

This research addresses Army-unique issues in fundamental materials research involving the performance of advanced materials at high deformation rates for applications including armor and armaments. Fundamental understanding is developed to enable design, processing, and characterization of materials specifically intended for high loading-rate applications, including improved physics based models, methods to characterize materials microstructure, interfaces, and defects and their role on materials response, and the determination of rate-dependent constitutive and failure/fracture behavior of materials.

This effort explores new materials and creates new computational capabilities based upon fundamental concepts derived from studies of structure, process, and property relationships at the microscopic and nanostructural levels. Research includes synthesis, processing, characterization, and modeling of novel metal alloys and armor ceramics, including control and manipulation of nanostructural features, grain boundaries, texture, and other nano-to-microscale structure.

This effort seeks to improve fundamental knowledge of mechanisms that can be exploited to ensure the next generation of lightweight and efficient armor technologies. Provides physics-based discovery of novel Soldier protection mechanisms through increased understanding of wave propagation through tissue and the resulting deformation and damage of tissue during ballistic and blast events.

This effort investigates new techniques in resilient multi-agent autonomy providing system-wide resilience during complex autonomous missions with multiple simultaneous goals in the face of unmodeled adversarial disruptions. This includes system-wide resilient behaviors that can anticipate, adapt, or reorganize in the face of unexpected and unmodeled disturbance, disruptions, or attacks; autonomous behaviors for anticipatory policies for sustained sufficiency, adaptations to recoup performance, and reorganization to recover from loss of functionality; and risk-aware adversarial machine learning to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities associated with adversarial attacks on machine learning models.

Create robust experimental and computational approaches for understanding, modeling, and predicting the complex fluid flow and aerodynamics of next generation rotorcraft concepts. This research includes innovative numerical methods for capturing the details of steady state and non-steady state aerodynamics and acoustics occurring with multi-rotor, rotor-propeller, and rotor hub configurations; and associated experimental techniques needed to verify modeling results.

Basic research focused on topics that contribute to the body of knowledge required to create future intelligent, unmanned air systems that can effectively team with manned and unmanned aircraft, ground platforms, and human teammates. Emphasis is placed on topics of control and aeromechanics that expand the operational envelope for unmanned systems and enable maneuverability in complex, interactive, and mission relevant environments.

Pursue research in autonomous systems that supports and unburdens Soldiers in a flexible, robust, survivable, and comprehensive manner. This work addresses the cognitive requirements of humans and (non-human) agents, both hardware and software based, operating individually or in collaboration, on the battlefield. Emphasis is placed on perception, reasoning, and collaboration techniques that can apply to and transfer between a broad range of systems (i.e., adaptive communication and data collection networks; crowd-sourcing and information retrieval software agents; and predictive and explanatory decision support systems).

Basic research focused on enabling robust autonomous mobility for small and human-scale robotic systems, including autonomous teaming behavior with hybrid human-robotic teams. Enablers for robust autonomous mobility include planning, behaviors, energy efficient maneuver, and the interface of manipulation technologies to support manned-unmanned teaming constructs.

Basic research in reconfigurable platform mechanics and propulsion science to investigate technologies to enable subsystem configuration concepts for efficient hover and high-speed/range Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Explore novel concepts in energy generation and capture in technologies for efficient conversion of ambient energy to electrical energy for use and storage. Design novel structures to include microscale power devices for multimodal harvesting and efficient distributed power conversion. Focus areas include: energy storage and release from atomic nuclei, new electrochemical materials and processes for energy storage and conversion, and new approaches for solar energy harvesting.

Basic research to enable highly efficient, multi-fuel conversion in small engines with reduced sensitivity to fuel property variation and extreme ambient conditions. This includes research to characterize and investigate extreme fuel properties on ignition chemistry, variable spark enabling concepts for robust ignition, and lightweight highly durable materials for reduced heat loss and wear characteristics.

Basic research to investigate concepts and theories to provide enhanced tools, methods, and innovative concepts to enable improvements in propulsion power density, energy efficiency, reliability, and lifecycle costs for increased performance and capabilities in future Army systems.

Multi-disciplinary effort to understand and characterize emerging energy field biological effects to address the need to develop a mechanistic understanding, from the molecular/cellular level and beyond, which energy delivery can produce tracible biological effects. Discover transformational mechanisms by which energy fields affect biological function or structure, via experimentation, modeling, and simulation. Create knowledge products and materials towards sensors, Soldier protection, energy scavenging, and other adaptive measures. Integrate physical and biological models with experimentation to understand energy propagation, coupling, and effects on biological materials and systems.