2015-2016 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory (2017) / Chapter Skim
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4 Information Sciences
4 Information Sciences
Pages 88-117
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From page 88... ...
The review in 2016 was focused on research related to networks and communications, cybersecurity, human information interaction, and atmospheric sciences. ARL research in information sciences is focused on developing and enhancing intelligent systems for the analysis of information and knowledge.
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From page 89... ...
Collectively the work addresses technical challenges in the use of sensors, communication, and computing to provide the soldier with new levels of tactical intelligence and the automated support needed for missions. Areas of specific endeavor include language translation, information extraction, semantic analysis, understanding of human trust networks, fusion 1 This is a Department of Defense initiative.
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From page 90... ...
Also stemming from work related to the network science CTA is research related to agent-based semantic analysis in information retrieval. This research focuses on how to manage information dissemination across constrained channels based on the trade-off between size and accuracy.
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From page 91... ...
Research on estimating credibility by fusing subject opinions was of good technical quality and was disseminated in a reputable conference. This research focused on fusing multiple inconsistent and potentially conflicting information sources.
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From page 92... ...
The research efforts have yielded significant advances in several interesting and potentially important areas such as reasoning under uncertainty, robotic control and path planning, and models of cognition and tactical decision making. Researchers engaged in the effort are well qualified, but the team comprises a disproportionate number of early-career researchers.
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From page 93... ...
Intelligent systems research is increasingly dependent on harnessing vast quantities of data, and the fields of scalable machine learning and big data analytics are advancing rapidly. A number of important techniques and tools have been developed to address these emerging challenges, many in the open source community.
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From page 94... ...
The sensor and data fusion focus was largely on approaches for dynamically adapting information to situational changes and appears to comprise engineering advances as opposed to exploring fundamental science. Research in radar signal processing was both relevant and of good technical quality, and it focused on signal processing in congested and cluttered environments.
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From page 95... ...
Sensor and Data Fusion The research efforts in this area tended to be more incremental engineering advancements, as opposed to addressing fundamental questions. As an example, design concepts for dynamically adapting information to the situational changes in the utility of data attributes (e.g., accuracy, latency, reliability, data rate)
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From page 96... ...
Across the entire research endeavor, access to actual field data would further enrich the research effort and would help to distinguish the work from that in the outside research community. In the area of dynamically adapting information to situational changes, for example, research in the commercial applications arena focuses on certain performance objectives that do not meet the requirements in the military context.
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From page 97... ...
The work related to nonlinear radar shows promise for immediate transfer to a range of battlefield applications. Finding ways to transition this technology as rapidly as possible would be extremely helpful in meeting critical needs in Army operations.
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From page 98... ...
Additional focus on formulating relevant research problem statements would be beneficial for these cross-disciplinary research endeavors. The research results are being published in archival journals and in respected conference proceedings.
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From page 99... ...
Research efforts in this area include video processing over networks, adaptive information query, distributed computing architectures and network protocols, controlled experimental testbeds to emulate field experiments and exercises, and multi-genre node interoperability in networks. The thrust on development of emulation and simulation environments in a research platform like the NSRL has yielded a powerful capability that will enable significant network and cross-coupled research investigations that address future ARL and Army research needs.
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From page 100... ...
To ensure high impact and to avoid compromising the overall quality of research, it is important for these cross-disciplinary research endeavors to establish strong, relevant research problem statements. Researchers pursuing such cross-disciplinary projects are encouraged to establish collaborations and strong mentoring relationships with experts in allied areas early in the problem-formulation stage.
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From page 101... ...
HII is not social media or social media analytics either, because it deals with more than the content of the communication, and more than just understanding, interpreting, and predicting human and bot behavior in a completely digital world. The area requires a truly interdisciplinary approach involving sociology, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, information science, and computer science.
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From page 102... ...
To be successful in this regard will require leveraging the larger scientific community beyond current collaborative technology alliance (CTA) collaborators and researchers brought in through ARL West.
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From page 103... ...
. Some features of such an environment already exist within the open campus philosophy and the network science research laboratory may serve an important role in this context.
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From page 104... ...
More importantly, ARL researchers were generally aware of other research in their areas of work. Given the wide range of organizations conducting cybersecurity research -- government laboratories, University Affiliated Research Centers, academia, and commercial organizations -- this is a difficult, but necessary task.
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From page 105... ...
Automated Detection of Hostile Activities Research related to automated detection is important and impactful. The work related to using Bloom filters to reduce signatures in a constrained network environment is exceptional.
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From page 106... ...
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES Accomplishments The research projects being conducted focus on challenges related to the collection and processing of environmental data from nontraditional observing platforms, the imaging and sensing of aerosols and objects in the battlespace environment, understanding complex atmospheric flows through a combination of field observation experiments and model development, and application of the observations into enabling technologies to enhance renewable energy use. Several of the projects also seek to adapt technology developed for other applications into the domain of atmospheric sciences.
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From page 107... ...
This project is linked to distributed weather-decision support modeling, which concentrates on utilizing multiple sources of environmental information to produce automated guidance on optimal use of Army weapon systems on the battlefield. Raman Spectroscopy of Atmospheric Aerosols Given the complexity of the environment and the adequacy of current sensing technologies, there are considerable challenges in detecting chemical and biological agents on the battlefield.
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From page 108... ...
is a basic research project that entails a microscale atmospheric observational field experiment that represents a follow-on to the mesoscale field experiment program known as the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) .3 That project, funded by DOD as a 5-year Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, is described as the most densely instrumented complex-terrain field experiment in history.
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From page 109... ...
These patenting activities are impressive and serve as a clear indication of the exceptionally high level of use-inspired research that has been undertaken. Weather Impacts on Microgrid Renewable Energy Ramping Event Modeling A combined field experimentation and modeling effort is under way to enable the efficient use of renewable energy by incorporating weather data into the decision-making process.
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From page 110... ...
and international community, especially in under-resourced or remote areas of the world. Microscale Modeling Focused on Dense Urban and Complex Terrain Domains for Future Army Battlefields The need for environmental characterization at the microscale level (for the Army, this means spatial scales of 1 to 100 m and temporal scales of the order of minutes)
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From page 111... ...
The hybrid scheme showed some promise when compared to the other initialization methods by better capturing several areas of deep moist convection, but the approach is not without its flaws. Assessment of Storm-Scale Convective Forecasts One of the most important considerations in battlespace environmental characterization and prediction is determining the quality of predictions.
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From page 112... ...
Future plans include the adoption of a large eddy simulation transition approach for running the model at smaller horizontal grid spacing. Challenges and Opportunities In the long-range adaptive passive imaging system project, the broader fundamental scientific applicability and path for future project development are somewhat unclear.
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From page 113... ...
At the time of the panel's visit, siting approval had not yet been received from the WSMR leadership. There are significant leadership and collaboration opportunities for ARL by leveraging the project on weather impacts on microgrid renewable energy ramping event modeling.
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From page 114... ...
As stated for the latter project and the microscale modeling project, the use of MSA data for model verification will be crucial in advancing the goals of this research. It is important to get a sense of the ability of the model to reproduce the small-scale flow features that are critical to battlespace environmental characterization and prediction.
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From page 115... ...
Among the ARL researchers, there was a good awareness of external research and connections to professional organizations and external research communities; research results are appearing in respected conference proceedings and in archival journals. There is room for even broader dissemination of these results to a larger scientific community.
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From page 116... ...
The research results are being published in archival journals and in respected conference proceedings. The recent relaxation in rules permitting travel to relevant scientific conferences will have a continued positive impact on the overall research environment.
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From page 117... ...
In work related to atmospheric sciences, the overall scientific quality of the research was good and comparable to research conducted at successful university, government, and industry laboratories. Good progress that has been made since the 2014 review, with multiple projects moving in the right direction.
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