Four projects DARPA, which may surpass the Internet

Forty years ago, a group of researchers at the money the War Department decided to test the idea of ​​eccentric force the computer to communicate some unusual way: targeted mailing digital data packets, as if the call to the phone number. The project, named ARPANET, subsequently radically changed the lives of humanity, turning to the Internet.

Today the organization, funded the creation of the Internet, called DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Agency). Its budget of around $ 3 billion, distributed among 250 different projects. All of them are developed in the framework of the national security of the United States, but many of the projects DARPA may subsequently be commercialized and "released" in free circulation, changing life as much as the authors and do not assume. Over what is now working DARPA, which may in the future on the influence surpass internet?

Atomic GPS h4> At the time, DARPA has participated in the development of GPS. This is an excellent tool that is used daily by millions of people, but the cost of maintaining GPS performance is constantly growing. Today, the cost of one satellite reaches 223 million dollars, which was one of the causes of reducing the volume of purchases by the Air Force.



DARPA have no specific program to replace GPS, but the two projects may well claim it. We are talking about QuASAR (Quantum Assisted Sensing), auxiliary quantum measurement, and the chip combinatorial atomic navigation C-SCAN . If you learn how to accurately measure how the acceleration and direction of the Earth's magnetic field affects the individual atoms (stored at very low temperatures), you can navigate without the use of satellites. That is possible to create a geolocation system that will be 1,000 times more accurately all modern systems.

The British Army is also investing millions of pounds in similar technologies. Their researchers say that in five years will be able to develop the first prototype. The importance of quantum navigation for military obvious: it allows them much more control over the troops and to strike with missiles. Perhaps drones quantum compasses also do not need navigation satellites, which will make them much less vulnerable on the battlefield.

What can this technology all the rest, that is, to us? For example, future gadgets will know your location in relation to other devices without the use of expensive satellite navigation. That is the function of the device geolocation become smaller and cheaper, radically improve and simplify the set of systems and gadgets, ranging from search services to "unmanned" vehicles and drones for a pizza delivery.

However, a more important application of quantum GPS civilians will be to ensure privacy. Your smartphone does not have to receive a signal from space to determine your location. This will complicate its detection, and hence your too.

Terahertz Electronics and metamaterials h4> called terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves used in cellular communication, and infrared waves. Today this is uncharted territory, but if you can figure out how to use this range, we can create a variety of devices that do not conflict with the other within the spectrum. This will give the military a strategic advantage when multiple devices can use the same range of radio waves.



Research in terahertz can be used when creating the so-called metamaterials used for radio-absorbing coatings and aircraft perhaps even creating invisible camouflage.

Because terahertz radiation is non-penetrative, unlike X-ray, the clothing of metamaterials with small THz sensors helps to quickly and accurately detect any chemical changes in the body, that is, to determine the health problems. In fact, personal pocket diagnostician.

Anti-virus protection for the internet of things h4> CISCO predicts that by 2020 the world will be about 50 billion connected devices with each other. Everything from consumer electronics to street lighting, pipes and industrial equipment will be connected to a single management information network. Today it is called Internet of Things.



In 2012, DARPA announced the program HACMS (High Assurance Cyber ​​Military Systems, Military cybersystems high reliability). This program is designed to provide protection against potential threats that may emerge in the Internet of things. The agency is trying to create a technology that does not allow to crack military equipment, medical equipment and even drones. In the future, software developed under HACMS, can be an ideal Antivirus which protect the civilian segment of the Internet of things. This achievement would not be as noticeable as the Internet itself. But the significance of this technology is quite hypothetical can be estimated by the fact that due to it not occur industrial disasters . Many experts predict that without protection the internet of things will never realize their potential. This future network can completely change the life of humanity, but it is necessary to make it completely safe.

Evaluation of direct threats h4> Program RTA (Rapid Threat Assessment) aims to accelerate multiple studies of various fatal diseases. Instead of months and years, DARPA wants to give the opportunity to "within 30 days of fully recreate the mechanism of action of various agents on the human body at the molecular level." That is to create a working environment, through which researchers can develop countermeasures to various biological threats.



As in the case for Internet Antivirus things, the best technology RTA can be estimated by the troubles in order that it can prevent - at pandemics. For example, have spent years and a lot of money on the finding that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has become more dangerous because of the emergence of amino acids in a particular place. As a result, the virus is transported to the lungs of mammals and can be transmitted over the air. If it is found out earlier, we could have saved a lot of lives.

If we talk about the long term, then, within the next few decades, technology will radically change the RTA technique for drug development. And this, in turn, will help to minimize the threat posed by chemical and biological arsenals of potential enemies "of the country of eternal democracy».

Before any of these technologies will reach the level of the Internet, DARPA has to contend with the usual problem of all government organizations, the times are changing much faster than the thinking of government officials. And nepospevanie for change can be a key obstacle to the embodiment of revolutionary ideas.

Source: habrahabr.ru/post/231149/