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Showing posts with label DARPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DARPA. Show all posts

Friday, January 25, 2013

Recently in DARPA Category - NASAHackSpace

http://nasahackspace.com/darpa/

Since I have mentioned DARPA in a few posts I thought I would check out some science fiction references that hit on things DARPA was looking into.  Since the list is alphabetical, the first one shown is for "Avatar".
- LRK - 
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DARPA Project List (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) was established 1958 in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik. DARPA reports directly to the Secretary of Defense; however, it operates independently of the rest of military research and development. Its basic principles are:
  • Small and flexible, with a flat organization structure
  • Autonomous organization
  • World-class scientists and engineers work with representatives from industry, universities and government labs
  • Project-based style; technical staff rotated every 3-5 years
  • Program managers are selected to be technically outstanding and entrepreneurial.
Here's a listing of the DARPA-related projects presented on the Technovelgy site:
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How much of your tax money would you spend on a program to recreate Avatar, a movie in which a human is "uploaded" to a robot?* Whenever a science-fictional desire exists, DARPA is ready to meet that desire (and if you don't think so, see my DARPA Project List).
The DARPA Avatar program is not quite like the movie: what they want are “interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bipedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier’s surrogate.”
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That made me check out some other archive lists.
- LRK -

This link is an archive list of articles that Keith Cowling posted with DARPA interests.
This list is by latest to previous which shows the recent topic about satellite repair and back last year we see the "Avatar" project mentioned.  A lot in between as well.
- LRK -

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Recently in DARPA Category  -  NASAHackSpace

Phoenix Rising: Advances in Satellite Repurposing Program

By Keith Cowing on January 23, 2013 9:56 PM
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DARPA Has A Program Called "Avatar"

By Keith Cowing on February 18, 2012 2:48 PM

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Let me give you one more list to look at should you be so inclined.
For those in the US, it is your tax money at work.
POSTS TAGGED DARPA at engadget.
- LRK -

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POSTS TAGGED DARPA

January 22, 2013 at 6:15PM
DARPA touts progress on Phoenix program to salvage dead satellites

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February 19, 2012 at 7:03AM
DARPA's 'Avatar project' aims to give soldiers surrogate robots, makes James Cameron proud

And the WIRED magazine article where the Avatar project appeared.
- LRK -

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Pentagon’s Project ‘Avatar’: Same as the Movie, but With Robots Instead of Aliens
BY KATIE DRUMMOND 02.16.12 4:51 PM

Soldiers practically inhabiting the mechanical bodies of androids, who will take the humans’ place on the battlefield. Or sophisticated tech that spots a powerful laser ray, then stops it from obliterating its target.
If you’ve got Danger Room’s taste in movies, you’ve probably seen both ideas on the big screen. Now Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research arm, wants to bring ‘em into the real world.
In the agency’s $2.8 billion budget for 2013, unveiled on Monday, they’ve allotted $7 million for a project titled “Avatar.” The project’s ultimate goal, not surprisingly, sounds a lot like the plot of the same-named (but much more expensive) flick.
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Just for fun I down loaded the DARPA 336 page budget PDF file and so far the "Avatar project" has not appeared in my blurry eyes.  Your viewing may have better luck. In any case a lot things to think about.
- LRK -

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[PDF] 

FY 2013 Budget Estimates - Darpa

www.darpa.mil/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id...Share
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
UNCLASSIFIED. Department of Defense. Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 President's BudgetSubmission. February 2012. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ...

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  • Budgets are available on the Department of Defense (DoD) Comptroller website. DoD also maintains a searchable database for budget information.

  • FY 2013 Budget Estimates (2.62 MB .pdf)

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    • [Tells you to read and then Click to leave DARPA site. -LRK -]
      You are now leaving the Web Information Service site that is under the control and management of DARPA. The appearance of this hyperlink does not constitute endorsement by DARPA nor the DoD of the destination web site or the information, organizations, products, or services contained therein, nor does DARPA or the DoD exercise any responsibility at the destination. This link is provided consistent with the stated purpose of this web site.
    After reading this message, clickhttp://www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/... to continue immediately.
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The problem with searchable data bases is you need to know how the data base is set up to ask the right questions. Avatar is not a title the search engine wanted on the input form. :-( 
However ...
- LRK -

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[PDF] TACTICAL TECHNOLOGY
... PE 0602702E: TACTICAL TECHNOLOGY UNCLASSIFIED ... R-1 ITEM
NOMENCLATURE PE 0602702E: TACTICAL TECHNOLOGY ...
Service/Agency: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Budget Activity: 2 - Applied Research
Program Element Number: 0602702E
www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2013/DARPA/0602702E_2_PB_2013.pdf - 39k - Text Version

on page 9 of 30 pages, and down the page a bit. - LRK -

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Title: Avatar
Description: Key advancements in telepresence and remote operation of ground systems are being made towards the ultimate goal of developing remotely operated robotic systems that can operate in dismounted environments. In order to demonstrate the utility of bi-pedal machines on real missions and accelerate their development, the synergistic partnership between machine and operator must be leveraged. The Avatar program will develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier's surrogate. Once developed, Avatar will allow soldiers to remain out of harm's way while still leveraging their experience and strengths to complete important missions such as sentry/perimeter control, room clearing, combat casualty recovery, and, eventually, dismounted combat maneuver. Anticipated service users include the Army, Marines and Special Forces.

FY 2013 Plans:
- Investigate power, locomotion, perception and control of surrogate bipedal machine platforms.
- Begin initial development of algorithms to allow the function of a bidirectional master controller between a human user and a remote bipedal machine.
- Initiate investigations into tethered and untethered power options to allow operation over relevant mission envelopes.

FY 2013: 7.000 ($ in Millions)

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Well that was an interesting exercise and the WIRED magazine article was correct.  Just nice to be able to get back to the source and nice to know you can find these on the Internet.  We have come a long way since the early Bulletin Boards and CompuServe. 
After the last post about Drones I did a Google search for Vijay Kumar and found this TED talk where talks about agile robots, in this case small quadrotors.

The PBS NOVA special on drones only had a few clips, while at the TED talk he shows several videos.

I had a little trouble with my WiFi not keeping up with the presentation and they suggest down loading the mp4 files, which I ended up doing.

Standard-res: 54.8 MB   VijayKumar_2012.mp4    Frame height 288, Frame width 512 Length 00:16:46

High-res: 111 MB    VijayKumar_2012_480p.mp4 Frame height 480, Frame width 854 Length 00:16:46

Watching 20 small quadrotors fly in formation and adjust their formation to fly through a window frame, two side by side, without touching each other was pretty good. Having a quadrotor fly through a tossed hoop wasn't bad either.

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AviationWeek blog
Are Small, Networked Satellite Clusters the Future?
Posted by Paul McLeary 4:32 PM on Jul 13, 2011
If the scientists at DARPA—the Pentagon’s Big Think research arm—get their way, in a few years’ time there may be networked clusters of dozens or even hundreds of small, cheap, disposable satellites working together to take the place of the large, expensive, and not easily replaced chunks of hardware currently floating around in orbit.
DARPA has spent tens of millions of dollars working on something called “System F6” (Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft) for several years now, with the goal of having an ad hoc wireless network tie groups of sat clusters together so that they can autonomously share tasks like processing, data storage, sensing, communications relay and navigation, while trading off missions between them if any one sat fails, or falls out of orbit. (AvWeek’s Graham Warwick has a great piece on the program here.) While DARPA has said that it wants to conduct an on-orbit demonstration in 2014-2015, Raytheon announced on Tuesday that its BBN Technologies segment had been awarded a $2.4 million to design the network the sats will use.

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PE 0603287E: SPACE PROGRAMS AND TECHNOLOGY  (page 2 of 11)
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Title: System F6

Description: The objective of the System F6 program is to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of a satellite architecture wherein the functionality of a traditional "monolithic" spacecraft is replaced by a cluster of wirelessly-interconnected spacecraft modules. Each such "fractionated" module would contribute a unique capability, for example, computation and data handling, communications relay, guidance and navigation, payload sensing, or it can replicate the capability of another module. The fractionated modules would fly in a loose, proximate cluster orbit capable of semi-autonomous reconfiguration or a rapid defensivescatter/re-gather maneuver. Critical to this architecture is a robust, system-level approach to ensuring security, integrity, and availability, while implementing authentication and non-repudiation. While delivering a comparable mission capability to a monolithic spacecraft, System F6 significantly enhances architectural and programmatic adaptability and robustness-reducing risk through the mission life and spacecraft development cycle, enabling incremental deployment of the system, and enhancing survivability. The System F6 architecture provides valuable options to decision makers throughout the life cycle development of future space systems that are absent in present-day monolithic architectures.

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Multi-Robot Cooperation in Space: A Survey (8 pages)

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Phoenix rising: DARPA’s plan to repair communication satellites in orbit

http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/01/22a.aspx

Suggest check out the various links and short video clips presented, all of which can be found at the DARPA sites.

The plan is to repair dead satellites by snipping, clipping, and replacing --- but remember this a DARPA funded program. Not necessarily bad.  We have DARPA's help with  Information Processing Techniques Office which has helped make the Internet what it is.  But, hmmm ... watch the videos and let your mind create your own science fiction alternate history.
- LRK -

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http://www.kurzweilai.net/phoenix-rising-darpas-plan-to-repair-communication-satellites-in-orbit

Phoenix rising: DARPA’s plan to repair communication satellites in orbit

January 23, 2013
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Satellite servicing robot replaces defective electronics in nonworking communication satellite (credit: DARPA)
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DARPA’s planned Phoenix program is intended to develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) at greatly reduced cost.
Today, when a communication satellite fails, it usually means the expensive prospect of having to launch a brand new replacement communication satellite. Many of the satellites that are obsolete or have failed still have usable antennas, solar arrays, and other components that are expected to last much longer than the life of the satellite, but currently there is no way to re-use them.
The Phoenix program envisions developing a new class of very small “satlets,” similar to nano satellites, which could be sent to the GEO region economically as a “ride along” on a commercial satellite launch, housed in a payload orbital delivery system (PODS).
A separate “tender” (satellite servicing robot) is also expected to be built and launched into GEO. Once the tender arrives on orbit, the PODS would be released from its commercial satellite host to become part of the tender’s “tool belt.”
The tender would be sent to a nonworking satellite to salvage the usable parts, replacing the defective electronics with the satlet and creating a functioning communication satellite.
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As noted at SpaceRef
- LRK -

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Phoenix Rising: New Video Shows Advances in Satellite Repurposing Program


Inserting new capabilities into a satellite is no simple task. Doing so as that satellite hurdles through space 22,000 miles above the Earth is a bit more challenging still. DARPA's Phoenix program, which hopes to repurpose retired satellites while they remain in orbit, seeks to fundamentally change how space systems could be designed here on earth and then sustained once in space.

This video illustrates some of the program's technical progress since it began in July 2012. As performers demonstrate the progress of their work in the lab, an artist's simulation of a fully-realized Phoenix demonstration scenario runs in the background to help illustrate how the technology would be applied. Demonstrations include flight-capable robotic arm manipulation with simulated space contact dynamics, tool development for the robotic arm with unique gripping and adhesion capabilities, autonomous robotic control software and hyperdexterous conformable robot modules in operation, among others.

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So PHOENIX RISING at DARPA
- LRK -

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Hmmm, PHOENIX RISING, DARPA to send repair satellites to dead satellites.

Communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), approximately 22,000 miles above the earth, provide vital communication capabilities to warfighters. Today, when a communication satellite fails, it usually means the expensive prospect of having to launch a brand new replacement communication satellite. Many of the satellites which are obsolete or have failed still have usable antennas, solar arrays and other components which are expected to last much longer than the life of the satellite, but currently there is no way to re-use them.

The goal of the Phoenix program is to develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in GEO and demonstrate the ability to create new space systems at greatly reduced cost.  Phoenix seeks to demonstrate around-the-clock, globally persistent communication capability for warfighters more economically, by robotically removing and re-using GEO-based space apertures and antennas from de-commissioned satellites in the graveyard or disposal orbit.
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DARPA Phoenix Satellite Servicing

Published on Jun 27, 2012
This video depicts DARPA's Phoenix program. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/whV (8 min.)


Check out this artist's depiction of how a retired satellite's still usable antenna might one day be salvaged and turned into a new space asset as part of DARPA's Phoenix program. The goal of Phoenix is to develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in GEO to create new space systems at greatly reduced cost. By robotically removing and re-using GEO-based space apertures and antennas from de-commissioned satellites in the graveyard or disposal orbit, space "junk" could become space "asset."
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The traditional process of designing, developing, building and deploying space technologies is long and expensive. Through Phoenix DARPA seeks to hasten the insertion of emerging technologies into space system development at much lower cost. 
Critical to the success of the Phoenix program is active participation from the international and non-traditional space communities involved in vital technical areas such as: 
  • Radiation tolerant micro-electronics and memory storage 
  • Distributed “wireless” mobile platform solutions for ad-hoc connectivity and control Industrial electronic control systems 
  • Terrestrial micro-miniature guidance and control measurement units 
  • Industrial robotics end effectors and tool changeout mechanisms and techniques 
  • Computer-assisted medical robotics micro-surgical tele-presence, tools and imaging  
  • Remote underwater imaging/vision technologies used in the offshore oil and gas drilling industry 
  • Terrestrial manufacturing of high volume micro-electronics and computer data storage 
  • Terrestrial thermal management design technology of electronic devices and systems 
  • Low-cost industrial manufacturing of high volume sheet metal and other structural materials 
  • Additive manufacturing on various structural materials  
The first keystone mission of the Phoenix program in 2015 plans to demonstrate harvesting an existing, cooperative, retired satellite aperture, by physically separating it from the host non-working satellite using on-orbit grappling tools controlled remotely from earth. The aperture will then be reconfigured into a ‘new’ free-flying space system and operated independently to demonstrate the concept of space “re-use.”
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Surgically clean, minimal debris at GSO. (geosynchronous orbit)
:-)
- LRK -
INNOVATORS SOUGHT FOR DARPA SATELLITE SERVICING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
October 20, 2011
Phoenix seeks to repurpose ‘retired’ satellite components through GEO servicing 
More than $300 billion worth of satellites are estimated to be in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO—22,000 miles above the earth). Many of these satellites have been retired due to normal end of useful life, obsolescence or failure; yet many still have valuable components, such as antennas, that could last much longer than the life of the satellite. When satellites in GEO “retire,” they are put into a GEO disposal or “graveyard” orbit. That graveyard potentially holds tens to more than a hundred retired satellites that have components that could be repurposed – with the willing knowledge and sanction of the satellite’s owner.  Today, DoD deploys new, replacement satellites at high cost—one of the primary drivers of the high cost is the launch costs, which is dependent on the weight and volume of antennas.  The repurposing of existing, retired antennas from the graveyard represents a potential for significant cost savings.
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DARPA MAKES ROOM ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FOR PROGRAMMERS
March 06, 2012

Students, professionals, public sought to create algorithm enabling capture of objects in space

The absence of gravity presents a significant challenge for precision robotic maneuvering and operations in space. Overcoming some of that challenge may be possible through the development of computer algorithms to simultaneously compensate for this limitation while directing precision operations.

Such algorithms could benefit a variety of space activities, including DARPA’s Phoenix program. A primary goal of Phoenix is to develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

DARPA’s InSPIRE program (International Space Station SPHERES Integrated Research Experiments), is sponsoring the Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge to develop such algorithms. The challenge, which kicks off Mar. 28, asks individuals and teams of programmers from around the world to develop a fuel-optimal control algorithm. The algorithm must enable a satellite to accomplish a feat that’s very difficult to do autonomously: capture a space object that’s tumbling, spinning or moving in the opposite direction.

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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