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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Summary

The statement of task that guided the work of the Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board (ARLTAB) is as follows:

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will appoint a committee to be named the Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board (ARLTAB), to be overseen by the Laboratory Assessments Board (LAB), to continue the function of providing assessments of the scientific and technical quality of the research at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). The committee will develop a series of reports that summarize the ARLTAB’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations related to the quality of ARL’s research programs.

Every two years, the committee will assess six portions of the ARL technical program (three in year 1, three in year 2). To conduct its assessments the ARLTAB will be assisted by up to six separately appointed panels. The assessment completed in Year 1 will be released as an interim assessment report, which will be combined with the second year’s assessment as a final biennial report.

The committee will also review the extramural basic research programs at the Army Research Office (ARO), a subdivision of the ARL. Each year the ARLTAB will be supported by an additional panel that will focus on selected ARO programs, and the ARLTAB will annually provide a separate assessment report.

While the primary role of the ARLTAB is to provide peer assessment, it may also offer advice on related matters when requested by the ARL Director.

During the 2019-2020 assessment, the ARLTAB is being assisted by four panels, each of which focuses on a portion of the program of the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) of the U.S. Army Futures Command’s (AFC) CCDC. ARL’s research core competencies include network and information sciences, computational sciences, human sciences, materials and manufacturing sciences, and propulsion sciences. A fifth panel to assess the ballistic sciences and protection sciences research core competencies will conduct it assessment in 2022, because the planned in-person 2020 meeting of the panel could not take place owing to COVID-19. Its meeting could not be conducted virtually because the research in ballistic sciences and protection sciences areas involved controlled unclassified information and classified information. For the extramural basic research programs at the Army Research Office (ARO), a subdivision of the ARL, each year the ARLTAB is supported by an additional panel that focuses on selected ARO programs, and the ARLTAB annually provides a separate assessment report.

This report summarizes the findings of the board for the 2019-2020 biennial assessment. This report subsumes the findings of the interim report1 and adds the findings from the second year of the review. Because a full spectrum of projects and programs within each ARL campaign and the interrelated mapping across all campaigns’ projects and programs were not provided to the ARLTAB, this report presents the board’s assessment of only the projects and programs presented and is not intended to portray a representative assessment of the science and technology (S&T) work across ARL.

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1 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020, 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory: Interim Report, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25819.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

The board examined the following elements within the ARL research core competencies:

  • Network and Information Sciences—information sciences, networks, and cyber.
  • Computational Sciences—computational sciences and atmospheric sciences.
  • Human Sciences—human-autonomy team interactions and humans understanding autonomy, autonomy understanding humans and estimating human-autonomy team outcomes, human interest detection, cyber science and kinesiology, neuroscience, training effectiveness, and strengthening teamwork for robust operations with novel groups (STRONG).
  • Materials and Manufacturing Sciences—optical sciences and photonics, electronics and optoelectronics, and energy science.
  • Propulsion Sciences—platform power, platform design and control, and intelligent maneuver.

The U.S. Army CCDC ARL is the Army’s corporate research laboratory strategically placed under the AFC. ARL is the Army’s sole fundamental research laboratory focused on cutting-edge scientific discovery, technological innovation, and transition of knowledge products that offer great potential to improve the Army’s chances of surviving and winning any future conflicts. The mission of ARL is to operationalize science for transformational overmatch. ARL has maintained its organizational structure, consisting of five directorates—Computational and Information Sciences Directorate (CISD), Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED), Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD), Vehicle Technology Directorate (VTD), and Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD)—and the Army Research Office (ARO). The research portfolio has been organized into research core competencies, each of which describes related work supported by staff from multiple directorates. Appendix Table A.1 shows the directorates that supported each of the research core competencies during the 2019-2020 review.

ARL’s vision is compelling and raises expectations for an innovative program of research designed to be responsive to the needs of the capabilities for the Army of 2030 and beyond. The reorganization of the portfolio into research core competencies is promising, but it may take some time to transform and mature the program of work to consistently align with the needs and capabilities for the Army of 2030 and beyond.

Four major changes to the Army and ARL clearly present challenges and promises to all research core competencies. These are the recent Army doctrinal changes to multi-domain operations (MDO), the reorganization that put ARL under the newly formed Army Futures Command (AFC), the divestiture of 6.3 work to other organizations,2 and emphasis on “disruptive” technologies. Specifically, with the recent creation of the AFC, ARL has been charged to focus on foundational research; targeting—conducting research to drive change within, across, and between disciplines; creation of knowledge products for warfighting concept development of the future; and interacting with universities via the ARL Open Campus and the ARO.

In general, the quality of the research presented, the capabilities of the leadership, the knowledge and abilities of the investigators,3 and proposed future directions continue to improve. Significant gains were

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2 Parsing research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) funding by the character of the work, the Department of Defense (DoD) has established seven categories identified by a budget activity code (numbers 6.1-6.7) and a description. Budget activity code 6.1 is for basic research; 6.2 is for applied research; 6.3 is for advanced technology development; 6.4 is for advanced component development and prototypes; 6.5 is for systems development and demonstration; 6.6 is for RDT&E management support; and 6.7 is for operational system development.

3 ARL has increased its civilian scientists and engineers (S&Es) with a Ph.D. degree from 434 to 688 from fiscal year (FY) 2006 to FY 2020. In FY 2020, 51 percent of its S&Es had a Ph.D. degree.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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evident in publication rates,4 numbers of postdoctoral and visiting researchers,5 and collaborations with relevant peers outside ARL.6 In this manner, ARL needs to continue to strive to perform research that has the potential to lead to disruptive technologies. The research work environments were impressive in terms of their unique and advanced technology capabilities to support research. Overall, these are outstanding accomplishments and mark an advance over prior years.

NETWORK AND INFORMATION SCIENCES

The research areas reviewed were information sciences and networks and cyber. The research projects under the banner of information sciences (IS) had a significant emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as applied to diverse areas of Army relevance. Application areas included image understanding, automated language processing, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and learning for control. There was a focus on multi-domain operations (MDO), and research projects were both foundational and disruptive, while maintaining Army relevance. There is a broad embrace of the transformative potential of AI and ML, especially in the context of how groups of people and autonomous systems can seamlessly collaborate, how technology can further aid with time-sensitive decision making in the presence of massive and diverse sources of information, and how virtual and augmented reality can be integrated in Army operations.

Research in the area of networks and cyber includes projects that fall into the general area of human-robot/machine interactions, with the two principal threads being scene narrative generation for humans by robots and robot learning from human demonstrations. This body of work is ambitious and has the potential to disrupt the way human-robot interactions are considered for future battlefields. Another important research methodology, especially for security issues, is to study systems that have both defense and offense techniques.

The research work in IS was assessed to be generally of high scientific quality, but not uniformly so. The research portfolio represents an appropriate balance of theoretical and experimental work, and many of the more mature programs—but not all—show a transition into practice or use by other areas. In most cases, the research projects reflected a good understanding of the problems being considered, an appropriate statement of the problem being pursued, a good knowledge of the appropriate methodologies to address the problem, and acquaintance with the state of the art and the relevant research pursued elsewhere. In many cases, the researchers are able to articulate Army relevance and identify research challenges that are unique to the Army’s operational needs. The researchers are well-qualified to carry out the research problems that they are pursuing and follow rigorous research methodologies and practices. Many of the projects have already resulted in publications in highly visible journals and selective

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4 For example, in CISD (where network cyber and information sciences and computational sciences and atmospheric sciences core competencies reside) for FY 2019, there were 56 journal publications and 168 conference publications. In HRED (where human sciences core competency resides) in the 2-year period from March 2017 to March 2019, there were 137 journal publications and 205 conference publications. In the materials and manufacturing sciences core competency area since 2017, there were 523 journal publications and 155 invited and keynote presentations. ARL had 1,121 scientists and engineers as of April 30, 2020.

5 For example, in CISD for FY 2019 there were 27 visiting researchers.

6 ARL had more than 515 active Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with industry and academia as of June 18, 2019. Moreover, ARL’s Open Campus Initiative was started in FY 2014 to link ARL with the global research community. The partners and ARL S&Es work side by side in research facilities. The collaborations are focused on Army-specific challenges of mutual importance to all partners. Partners from Army, industry, and academia engage in research with shared access to people, infrastructure, and resources. More information on ARL’s Open Campus can be found at https://www.arl.army.mil/opencampus/, accessed March 2, 2020.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

conferences. The computation facilities and instrumentation required are adequate to the needs of the researchers.

The overall scientific quality of the research in the networks and cyber was high, and comparable to research conducted at top research universities and government and industry laboratories. Researchers were very familiar with the underlying science and relevant leading research published and performed elsewhere. In many cases, there are active communications or collaborations with researchers outside ARL, many at the forefront of their respective fields. In all cases, the researchers were aware of the potential challenges, risks, and risk mitigations associated with their projects. In most cases, the researchers were able to incorporate these challenges, risks, and risk mitigations into their research. There is an appropriate balance of theory, computational work, and physical experimentation to inform and investigate multiple areas of research. The facilities and supporting infrastructure are well-suited for collaborative work. There is a good mix of well-trained research personnel who also collaborate with researchers in a broad range of academic and industrial partners in addition to working with the ARL South and ARL West regional sites. The research staff in this area have received outstanding recognition and awards for their research and technical contributions.

COMPUTATIONAL AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

Projects reviewed related to Battlefield Environment Division (BED) atmospheric observations and modeling and computational sciences research, considering both selected, in-depth research presentations and informal discussions surrounding research posters. Projects presented in depth spanned turbulence modeling in complex environments, using a lattice-Boltzmann computational model, understanding the influence of forest canopies on atmospheric dynamics on complex terrain, uncertainty quantification modeling for atomistic-scale modeling, and AI/ML at the edge implemented in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In addition, posters spanned atmospheric model prediction via radar data assimilation, meteorological sensor arrays, aircraft vortex and rotor wake characterization, and ML characterization of particle shapes.

While daunting, the repurposing of the ARL mission also presents great opportunities to restate, revise, or create a new vision, which would allow scientists to reevaluate their individual programs in terms of how they fit into the new “big picture.” For some projects, the new MDO viewpoint was an immediate and natural fit, while for others, the connections between project objectives and MDO were still being developed. Broadly, the work presented was of high quality, comparable to that conducted at major research universities or leading-edge federal research and development (R&D) organizations.

Examples of this high-quality research include the hierarchical multiscale (HMS) project, which continues to break new ground in mission-relevant research, by maintaining and now extending its quality and utility from earlier reviews. Similarly, the AI project, using FPGAs, seeks to build capabilities into Army weaponry (beginning with gunsights), via a framework that involves software, customizable hardware, and reduced convolutional neural nets (CNNs) to meet space, weight, power, and time-to-solution constraints. Similarly, the work on ML to characterize particle shapes using scattered light images has the potential for wide applicability throughout aerosol science and in the broad area of chemical or biological agent characterization.

There are a few areas of opportunity. As an enabling, broad-based capability, the computational sciences and BED need to maintain a critical mass of expertise, both for targeted projects and for collaborative engagement with other projects. Similarly, the BED atmospheric modeling research is foundational for many MDO activities, but it would benefit from stronger connections to specific projects.

In turn, computational science is becoming a prominent element in training AI/ML systems, such as work using physics-based simulation engines from video games as the source of data to train autonomous vehicles. Further, many of the technical challenges in modern ML involve problems that have been well investigated in computational science work, and emerging research in academia and industry that involves substantive collaborations between computational science and AI/ML is increasingly seen. CISD is well-

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

poised to catalyze important new work that involves collaborations between computational and information sciences, an area that does not currently appear to be pursued.

In summary, there is continued research progress, particularly engagement with academic stakeholders via ARL’s distributed sites and collaborative academic projects. There is hiring and intellectual development of new postdoctoral associates and staff. ARL continues to foster collaboration across its internal organizational structure. Last, all projects would benefit from clearer metrics for research project success and associated project exit strategies, including transitions that maximize Army benefits.

HUMAN SCIENCES

The human sciences (HS) project areas reviewed were human-autonomy team interactions and humans understanding autonomy; autonomy understanding humans and estimating human-autonomy team outcomes; human interest detection; cyber science and kinesiology; neuroscience, training effectiveness, and strengthening teamwork for robust operations with novel groups (STRONG).

ARL’s HS core competency is focused on identifying, creating, and transitioning scientific discoveries and technological innovations underlying three research areas: cognitive dominance, readiness for technological complexity, and teaming overmatch. These areas are critical to the U.S. Army’s future technological superiority. This core competency area concentrates on high-risk and high-payoff transformational basic research with potential for having revolutionary impacts on the Army’s warfighting capabilities. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the creation of disruptive and game-changing soldier-centric technologies for the Army, while also anticipating technological surprises from potential adversaries.

ARL needs to continue to focus on its long-term vision for advancing basic science research in human sciences. Its leadership needs to engage in more dialogue regarding its research strategies with its front-line researchers as well as the greater scientific community. An approach that incorporates both bottom-up and top-down approaches to advancing basic science research would strengthen the program and allow the ARL to advance its position to the forefront of basic research.

ARL continues to collaborate with universities through its state-of-the-art data collection facilities and through the STRONG program, with the goal of developing the foundation for enhanced teamwork within heterogeneous human-intelligent agent teams. Such continuing collaborations would develop the top talent needed among the next generation of researchers to realize ARL’s long-term research vision for advancing U.S. Army capabilities and to broaden the pool of trainees familiar with the unique challenges that the Army faces. As with the ARL Open Campus initiative, the richness of data that could be collected through ARL facilities is an inexpensive way to collaborate, and if strategically planned, could support several different laboratories asking the same questions from different angles to more robustly inform the research in these multifactorial environments with emergent outcomes.

Human-autonomy teaming needs to include many team phases, including mutual training, planning, execution, and after-action reviews. “Training” is not used in the sense of procedures that are formally specified in another part of ARL, but rather highlights the need for most teams to develop shared understanding and expectations through shared experiences. Algorithms designed through ML based on a preconceived notion of team behavior may not lead to resilient and adaptive human-autonomy teams, so future research needs to consider how mutual adaptation of human to autonomy and vice versa leads to resilient and adaptive human-autonomy teams.

For the presentations of ARL’s current human interest detection (HID) research efforts, context is needed. ARL needs to provide past work found in the literature, including previous work in attention focusing and ARL-supported work (especially in the Cognition and Ergonomics Collaborative Technology Alliance [CTA]). A framework is needed for binary target detection using the human interest measurements (probability of detection versus probability of false alarm and receiver operating characteristic [ROC]); this framework is likely to require adaptive decision fusion. A clear roadmap is

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

needed, including potential dependency on related research from other programs, metrics for success, milestones, and timelines. Milestones could include three to five realistic test scenarios specifying how many subjects would be using the HID system in a field test, what tasks and targets will be looked at, what form factor and other wearability constraints would need to be met by the HID system, and what ROC or probability of detection/probability of false alarm performance points on the ROC curve would be achieved.

The cyber science group has made good progress in 2 years, including identifying areas where the Army has unique challenges. The cyber science group brings a unique skill set to the Army that could be left intact or allowed to grow to advance its science. The cyber science group possesses a skill set that could be attractive to other groups—for example, training or computer science. If that skill set were siphoned away into other groups within the Army, the human science that the group is advancing will suffer.

The kinesiology group is working in an important area of research. The research strives to ensure that physical agents such as exoskeletons are designed based on how humans need to move so that they can team well with the warfighter. For the future work that the group envisions, studying smart exoskeletons is an interesting path to pursue. However, this research effort needs to better understand the musculoskeletal “cost” of the technology. Supporting the physical performance of tasks that will continue to be allocated to human soldiers is an important contribution of this group. The group can play an important role in identifying those tasks at which human soldiers (with or without augmentation) will excel or be able to keep pace with robotic soldiers, and vice versa, as robotic technology advances.

Changes made in the personnel, organization, and structure of the HS core competency area have provided the tools and opportunities needed to make it a national laboratory in the area of cognitive science and robotics for individual human performance as well as for human teams and mixed teams of humans and robots. The funding directed to this group by the Army has enabled the researchers to build the next generation of high-technology research tools with which to study human performance in combat simulations both with and without robotic teammates.

MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING SCIENCES

The research areas reviewed were optical science and photonics, electronics and optoelectronics, and energy science.

ARL’s materials sciences span the spectrum of technology maturity and address Army applications, working from the state of the art to the art of the possible. The Army’s vision for multi-domain operations (MDO) is that the Army of 2035 and beyond uses advanced technologies to achieve overmatch across a wide spectrum of domains and environments. The desired end state of the materials and manufacturing sciences core competency is to leverage the broad materials community to produce materials that enable the materiel to give soldiers unprecedented overmatch across the increasingly dynamic, complex, multidomain battlefield of the future. Materials research efforts and expertise are spread throughout the ARL enterprise. As the ensemble of the materials discipline and capabilities, the area of materials and manufacturing sciences is one of ARL’s primary core technical competencies. In the larger context, the mission of ARL, as the U.S. Army’s corporate laboratory, is to provide innovative science, technology, and analyses to enable a full spectrum of operations.

Most of the projects presented are excellent and, in some cases, world-class, and have potential for pervasive impact on the Army. The scientific soundness and the use of fundamental sciences are outstanding. The project portfolio fits well with both global thrusts and the national agenda.

Collaborations throughout the optical sciences and photonics program were diverse and strong, to the extent that the research advances emanating from these partnerships demonstrates that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” That is, the time and effort invested by ARL researchers in developing these collaborations have resulted in a substantial return to the ARL research effort. The fundamental

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

research conducted in the quantum information sciences group is especially impressive, and the demonstration of the first communications receiver based on Rydberg atoms is a major milestone of which all of ARL can be proud. The successful effort to store information in spin waves is also promising and a credit to this research team. The advanced solid-state lasers group continues to be one of the “crown jewels” for ARL by driving infrared laser technology with the recent achievement of lasing at 3 microns in new, low phonon energy hosts such as barium fluoride and yttrium lithium fluoride. The Sensor Protection scientific team is commended for the clever iridium chemistry that is being pursued to develop broadband reverse saturable absorption materials and the guided-mode resonance (GMR) filters. Among the impressive accomplishments of the integrated photonics research team is the dramatic improvement in the performance of optical frequency combs and the successful demonstration of electrically steerable phased arrays.

Overall, the research projects in the electronics and optoelectronics area were of high quality and comparable to other first-class research organizations. The projects evaluated were well thought out and motivated by Army needs—two examples are emerging materials being explored as a means to increase information and data assessment in the field and materials-driven antenna design that will address the Army’s expanding communications and size, weight, and power as well as cost (SWaP-C) needs. There was a good mix of exciting high-risk projects and those that are in support of Army near-term applications.

In the energy science area, clear linkages between ARL research programs and Army needs were, in most cases, well presented. Some strong and highly visible programs are internationally recognized and are likely to create opportunities to improve effectiveness of Army personnel in the field. In addition, there are less visible although essential efforts providing incremental advances specific to Army needs. The team working on aqueous lithium-ion battery (LIB) materials and systems is making exceptional advancements in the S&T of electrical energy storage with lithium-ion batteries. Aqueous electrolytes are nonflammable and thus dramatically safer than conventional electrolytes for military use. This ARL team has advanced the science of ultra-concentrated aqueous electrolytes that has enabled the use of high-voltage electrodes that previously were incompatible with aqueous systems. Work by the ARL team spans a broad range from computational modeling of interfacial chemistry to fabrication of cells of a size (approximately 5 Ah) suitable for field use. This is a wide range of activity for a small group that has deservedly garnered positive international recognition. Work on wireless energy transmission is also making excellent progress with capabilities for local wireless energy transmission (centimeters to meters) using electronic and acoustical waves, and is among the best in the world.

ARL’s work in preparing for the review was particularly noteworthy given the unknowns associated with this first effort at a virtual review. Overall, the researchers and the management are of high caliber and deserve credit.

PROPULSION SCIENCES

Programs assessed within the propulsion sciences core competency area were platform power, platform design and control, and intelligent maneuver.

The propulsion sciences research programs consist of internal and external research efforts. These research programs include ARL internal team efforts, partnerships with university investigators, and ARL-funded research in industry.

In general, propulsion sciences research is observed to be of high quality. The continued upward trajectory of developing well-posed research projects along with application of appropriate research tools and questions to investigate research challenges is noted. Advances in developing and applying basic dimensionless variables, simulation tools, and experimental laboratory facilities has expanded the opportunity space for ARL to produce disruptive and game-changing technologies. Greater success can be realized by increased intralaboratory research exchanges of goals, objectives, tools, methods and

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

processes, and facilities—that is, monthly joint intralaboratory research seminars. Expanding interactions with university and industry partners can also accelerate success.

Development of disruptive technology is not uniform across the three program areas—platform power, platform design and control, and intelligent maneuver. Transition of S&T products to the commercial sector and the defense sector is nascent. Challenges in modeling complexity and advanced systems design including assessment remain.

Several research projects are considered exceptional accomplishments. The program on tribology and lubrication science is well formulated and aimed at understanding fundamental physics. This program has demonstrated commendable use of experimental facilities in fundamental research. Application of this capability to study the failure mechanisms for fuel pumps is an excellent application of fundamental capability in resolution of relevant problems—for example, operation using different fuels and under different atmospheric conditions.

A particular exemplar is the microstructure deep learning methodology applied to developing artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) approaches by fusing simulation and experimental data. The molecular dynamics modeling in both the computational design of shape memory polymer actuation and the tailorable and multifunctional dynamic polymer networks can provide data to implement AI methods. Dynamic polymer networks research is a unique combination of morphing, self-healing, and shape memory. The non-equilibrium molecular motor research is on the leading edge of bio-hybrid basic research and will help inform ARL to shape its future portfolio.

Research on tilt rotor development as an alternative to fixed quadcopter designs to control attitude and lift more independently from lateral motion can introduce significantly improved capability to aerial maneuvering. When added to a quadrotor small-unmanned aerial system (sUAS), the tilting and force capability showed promise over pure quadrotor variants, enabling a new level of control. This development offers capabilities beyond a standard unmanned aerial system (UAS), potentially leading to disruptive, game-changing functionalities. The interplay of model simulation and physical testing in this research was excellent.

In summary, workforce management continues to improve, as evidenced by recruitment, mentoring, and retention of new, outstanding researchers from top-tier academic universities. Presentations and posters for the review were all of high quality, reflecting continuous improvements of research content. Technical publications involving ARL researchers were also found to be of high quality. Overall, the ARL technical management team has been supportive to the researchers in recognizing and responding to opportunities for growth.

CROSSCUTTING RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the 2019-2020 specific program review materials assessed in this report, the ARLTAB offers the following recommendations.

There is significant attention given to AI and ML in research programs across different portfolios at ARL. At present, the scope of these research efforts is rather narrowly focused on technical specialty areas. Fundamental research issues related to innovative ML techniques, AI implementation in resource-constrained environments, and trust and security of AI systems must still be addressed on a broader scale. It is also important to recognize that it is suboptimal to seek algorithmic advances in these areas without due consideration of hardware developments that are taking place in parallel. Given the potential of a disruptive impact of these technologies on Army operations, it is important to develop a comprehensive and integrative research plan in this emerging area. These technologies can have a transformational impact on key elements of future Army operations.

Crosscutting Recommendation 1: Activities in areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning are pervasive across Army Research Laboratory (ARL) research portfolios. ARL should emphasize the identification of a set of fundamental research questions that can provide

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
×

a long-term focus for research in this area. Rich and disparate data sets collected across multiple research domains at ARL (materials, weapon systems, human-machine interactions, for example) could provide the context against which answers to these research questions are pursued.

Software development has advanced at a tremendous pace over the past few years. Much of the reason for this rapid development is the increasingly common practice of employing open source software to build software platforms. Because of this rapid pace, it will be difficult for ARL to remain competitive within the software development space. ARL needs to be a member of GitHub7 (if it is not already), with classified information being handled appropriately.

Crosscutting Recommendation 2: The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) should develop a mechanism for collaboration between ARL and industry on software development to ensure that it continues to track the state of the art. Specifically, ARL should use and develop software platforms in collaboration with open source software libraries that will enable ARL to keep up to date and to rapidly develop software.

High-quality research cannot be pursued in a vacuum. The probability of eventual success of ARL long-range research programs will be enhanced through cognizance of outside efforts and, where appropriate, establishing formal collaborations. Establishing contacts will require, at a minimum, attendance at professional meetings and conferences and possible travel to and from leading institutions.

Crosscutting Recommendation 3: To improve career prospects of early-career researchers and improve the overall quality of the research, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) should further encourage and facilitate all members of the research team, including junior members, to make the scientific contacts and interactions necessary to adequately place their research in the context of the entire field.

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7 GitHub is a major open source group—see https://github.com/.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26325.
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board (ARLTAB) provides biennial assessments of the scientific and technical quality of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). These assessments include the development of findings and recommendations related to the quality of ARL's research, development, and analysis programs. 2019-2020 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory reviews the following research core competencies of ARL: human sciences, network and information sciences, computational sciences, materials and manufacturing sciences, and propulsion sciences. This biennial report summarizes the findings of the ARLTAB from reviews conducted in 2019 and 2020.

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