The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced recently that it is seeking proposals for the second “swarm sprint,” which focuses on improving autonomy through enhancements of drone platforms or autonomy elements.
The proposal aims to continue the technology development of DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program, which supports the development of swarms of small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and or small unmanned ground systems (UGSs) that could help future small-unit infantry forces to accomplish diverse missions in complex urban environments.
The project includes five core “sprints” that each focus on a key thrust area: swarm tactics, swarm autonomy, human-swarm team, virtual environment or physical testbed.
The second sprint focuses on swarm autonomy and involves utilizing a swarm of 50 air and ground robots to isolate an urban objective within an area of two city blocks over a mission duration of 15 to 30 minutes. Participants will be able to work with DARPA and the Swarm Systems Integrators to further expand the capabilities relevant to operational contexts.
“As operations in urban environments continue to evolve, our warfighters need advanced capabilities to keep up with the ever-changing complexity of the urban scenario,” Timothy Chung, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO), said. “The focus on enhancing autonomy in operational contexts will further advance future swarming capabilities allowing the warfighter to outmaneuver our adversaries in these complex urban environments.”
DARPA has awarded contracts for the first sprint, which focuses on swarm tactics, to Lockheed Martin, Advanced Technology Laboratories, SoarTech, Inc., Charles River Analytics, Inc., University of Maryland and Carnegie Mellon University.