DARPA

October 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both D-Mich., announced today that Michigan researchers will receive more than $5 million for work on clean energy technologies for motor vehicles. The funding comes from the Department of Energy’s recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). General Motors will receive $2,655,174 and Michigan State University will receive $2,540,631.

“Michigan has always been a leader in manufacturing and the auto industry, and these grants will keep this cutting-edge work happening in our state,” Levin said. “Achieving energy independence is critical to our economic and environmental interests.”    » read more »

October 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both D-Mich., announced today that Michigan researchers will receive more than $5 million for work on clean energy technologies for motor vehicles. The funding comes from the Department of Energy’s recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The General Motors Company in Warren will receive $2,655,174 and Michigan State University in East Lansing will receive $2,540,631.

“Michigan has always been a leader in manufacturing and the auto industry, and these grants will keep this cutting-edge work happening in our state,” Levin said. “Achieving energy independence is critical to our economic and environmental interests.”    » read more »

Delphi selected to develop new technology; will create middle-class, green jobs for Hoosiers

October 26, 2009 -- Washington – Senator Evan Bayh today announced that Delphi Automotive Systems of Kokomo will receive more than $6.7 million in economic recovery funds to develop new energy technology designed to improve power delivery from batteries to electric motors.

“This funding will enable Delphi to make the kind of high-reward investments in clean energy that are so critical to power our emerging green economy in Indiana,” Bayh said. “This will not only create middle-class green jobs for Hoosiers, but has the potential to dramatically lower energy use and reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil as well.”    » read more »

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 13, 2009 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter successfully completed 20 test flights from Aug. 31 to Oct. 8 with the Foliage Penetration Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Tracking and Engagement Radar (FORESTER). The tests, conducted at Fort Stewart, Ga., validated the radar-carrying A160T's flight characteristics with more than 50 hours of flying time.

FORESTER is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army to provide enhanced coverage of moving vehicles and dismounted troops under foliage, filling the current surveillance gap. The Fort Stewart tests were conducted under a contract with DARPA.    » read more »

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Oct. 12, 2009 -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $5.5 million contract to design, fabricate and test Self-HEALing mixed-signal Integrated Circuits (HEALICS) technology. If all contract phases are completed, the value of the contract could reach $11 million.

Raytheon's HEALICS effort incorporates self-healing into a complex system-on-chip (SoC) design, providing the capability for the chip to sense undesired circuit behaviors and correct them automatically. This maximizes the yield of increasingly complex mixed-signal SoC's on an individual wafer to meet demanding performance specifications in the presence of extreme process variations and environment conditions.    » read more »

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., July 1, 2009 -- An industry team led by The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for work on Phase 2 of the Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program. The $15.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is currently funded to $13.8 million.

DARPA's FAST program aims to develop a new, ultra-lightweight High Power Generation System (HPGS) that can generate up to 175 kilowatts -- more power than is currently available to the International Space Station. When combined with electric propulsion, FAST will form the foundation for future self-deployed, high-mobility spacecraft to perform ultra-high-power communications, space radar, satellite transfer and servicing missions.    » read more »

CONTRACTS

ARMY

AM General, LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on Aug. 8, 2008, a $247,546,000 firm-fixed price contract for high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles. Work will be performed in Mishawaka, Ind., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Mar. 17, 2006. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).    » read more »

April 18, 2008 -- This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). If you have never heard of DARPA, you are not alone. But some of the innovations it has supported are familiar to all of us, and the work they are doing today will shape the way we live tomorrow. DARPA began the research that led to the creation of the Internet; it originated the technologies used in our military’s stealth aircraft; and it even provided funding to the inventor of the computer mouse.

DARPA NASA USAF experimental hanger: Photo by mollyali (CC)    » read more »

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2008 – When Russia surprised the world a half century ago by launching the Sputnik satellite through Earth’s atmosphere, the ripple effect spurred the White House into action.

In response to the Russian gambit, President Dwight D. Eisenhower in February 1958 commissioned the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Fifty years later, the agency’s mission remains clear: prevent future technological surprises for the United States and create them for the nation’s enemies.    » read more »

January 7, 2008 -- ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Some 20,000 soldiers a year may soon be trained in interpersonal skill building and cross-cultural awareness using a videogame recently developed by researchers from Sandia and BBN Technologies.

Funded through Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the nine-month project resulted in the instantiation of Sandia’s adaptive thinking training methodology that prepares warfighters for difficult situations in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, says project lead and scientist Elaine Raybourn.    » read more »