DARPA-SN-17-02.pdf

Special Notice (SN) DARPA-SN-17-02: OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) Proposers Day DATE: January 30, 2017 Registration Website: www.sa-meetings.com/OFFSETProposersDay E-mail: DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil

OFFSET PROPOSERS DAY:

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office (TTO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of the OFFSET program in advance of a planned Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). The Proposers Day will be held on Monday, January 30, 2017 at the DARPA Conference Center (675 N. Randolph St., Arlington, VA 22203) from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Advance registration is required.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE AND DESCRIPTION:

The objective of the OFFSET program is to develop a game-based open architecture to generate, evaluate, and integrate swarm tactics for swarm unmanned systems in urban operations. Urban environments are complex, dynamic, and unpredictable, and present a major challenge in modern security and civil operations. Effective introduction of unmanned swarms embedded with small-unit ground personnel can provide significant expansion of capabilities (e.g., increased standoff distances for detection and identification of potential dangers, robust safety and surveillance with air- and/or ground-based swarm platforms, and enhanced intelligence preparation of the battlespace). In addition, such swarm systems may also enable entirely new concepts of operations involving enabling technologies such as distributed perception, robust and resilient communications, dispersed computing and analytics, and adaptive collective behaviors.

The program will advance two key areas to dramatically increase the effectiveness of small-unit combat forces operating in the urban environment:

• Swarm Autonomy, involving agile, complex, collective behaviors for intelligent movement, decisions, and interactions with the environment

• Human-Swarm Teaming, enabling swarm commander(s) to infer, interact with, and influence swarm system behaviors

OFFSET will develop a swarm tactics ecosystem and supporting open systems architecture applicable to emerging needs for future urban operations. OFFSET’s approach is centered on the development and demonstration of swarm tactics to more closely align operational users and technologists to design and test operationally relevant swarm capabilities. Leveraging rapid, agile development cycles, OFFSET will offer frequent opportunities for engagement with end users (i.e., U.S. Army and U.S.

Marine Corps warfighters) to facilitate frequent technology off-ramps for rapid transition.

http://www.sa-meetings.com/OFFSETProposersDay mailto:DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil

OFFSET will also accelerate our understanding of key swarm tactics-enabling technologies. OFFSET will construct an open systems architecture and testbed centered on the development and experimentation of swarm tactics according to the following objectives:

• Generate an active ecosystem of swarm tactics through the development of a networked game environment for rapid generation and assessment of swarm tactics with a live-virtual-gaming architecture

• Integrate swarm tactics by designing intuitive human-swarm interfaces with emerging multi-modal, immersive interactive technologies (e.g., mixed reality)

This program will demonstrate OFFSET technologies through multiple capability-based experiments with physical air and ground unmanned swarm platforms. Throughout the course of the OFFSET program, operational vignettes of progressively increasing complexity will challenge both the swarm architecture and the developed swarm tactics across numerous technological and operational test variables, such as swarm size, swarm platform mixtures (e.g., air and ground), mission duration, and other relevant swarm system characteristics.

The OFFSET program is particularly interested in the following enabling technologies and highly encourages those with expertise in these technology areas to attend: open software and systems architectures, game software design and game-based community development, immersive interactive technologies, and robotic systems integration and algorithm development for distributed robotics.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Proposers Day will be held at the DARPA Conference Center on Monday, January 30, 2017 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Check-in begins at 9:00 AM.

The Proposers Day will be unclassified. To attend unclassified events held at the DARPA Conference Center, a completed DARPA Form 104, “DARPA Conference Center Visitor Requirements for Unclassified Meetings,” must be filled out and submitted either via encrypted e-mail to DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil or via fax to 703-741-0082. For encrypted e-mail, please use the subject: “OFFSET Proposers Day – DARPA Form 104”.

This form can be found at http://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA104.pdf.

NOTE: Before individuals transmit Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or other sensitive data to DARPA, it is recommended that they apply appropriate physical, administrative, and technical protocols to safeguard their privacy. DARPA will secure all PII and sensitive personal data in a controlled environment and protect it from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

http://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA104.pdf

Upon entry to the event, all attendees will be required to present Government-issued photo identification. Acceptable proof of identification includes either an original, valid passport (copies will not be accepted) or a certified copy of birth or naturalization certificate AND a federal or state-issued ID card with a photo. Additionally, U.S.

permanent residents (Green Card holders) and foreign nationals are required to submit a DARPA Form 60, “U.S. Permanent Resident and Foreign National Visit Request” (the form can be found at: http://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA60.pdf). The completed DARPA Form 60 must be provided via encrypted e-mail to SIDinternationalSecurity@darpa.mil and DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil or faxed to 703- 741-0082 no later than the registration close date without exception. For encrypted e-mail, please use the subject: “OFFSET Proposers Day – DARPA Form 60.”

Due to space limitations of the conference facility, attendance will be limited to the first 150 registrants, and no more than three (3) representatives per organization.

Participants must register for the Proposers Day through the registration website:

https://www.etouches.com/ehome/207084

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATION CLOSES ON Wednesday, January 25TH at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. Visit requests, security clearances, and other applicable documents should also be sent to DARPA by this time. For instructions on sending visit requests and security clearances to DARPA, please visit http://www.darpa.mil/policy/visitor-information.

DARPA hosts Proposer Days to promote teaming arrangements between researchers;

provide potential performers with information on whether and how they might respond to the Government’s research and development solicitations; and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. Therefore, Proposer Days are open only to registered potential proposers. To maximize the pool of innovative proposal concepts, DARPA strongly encourages participation in these events and subsequent solicitations by non-traditional performers, including small businesses, academic and research institutions, and first-time Government contractors. A list of registrant contact information will be made available to attendees following the Proposers Day to facilitate interchange among interested proposers. If you would NOT like to be included on this list, please notify us when registering.

Attendance at the OFFSET Proposers Day is voluntary and is not required to propose to subsequent BAAs (if any) on this topic. The Proposers Day does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. This announcement is issued solely for information and program planning purposes and is not a Request for Information (RFI).

Since this is not an RFI, no submissions against this notice will be accepted by the Government. DARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this Proposers Day.

The Program Manager for this effort is:

http://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA60.pdf mailto:SIDinternationalSecurity@darpa.mil mailto:DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil

Dr. Timothy Chung

DARPA/TTO

DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil mailto:DARPA-SN-17-02@darpa.mil