W911NF24S0002 Amendment 01.pdf

ARMY RESEARCH OFFICE

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA) FOR

DEVCOM ARL HBCU/MI Research Partnerships

W911NF-24-S-0002 Amendment 01

ISSUED BY:

U.S. Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground

Research Triangle Park Division P. O. Box 12211

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211

Issued: December 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. OVERVIEW OF THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY 1

A. Required Overview Content 1

1. Agency Name 1

2. Research Opportunity Title 1

3. Announcement Type 1

4. Research Opportunity Number 1

5. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number and Title 1

6. Response Dates 1 B. Additional Overview Information 1

II. DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY 3

A. Program Description 3

1. Overview 3

2. Army Center for Synthetic Biology 3

3. Ultra-Wide Bandgap (UWBG) RF Center 6

4. Energetics Basic Research Center (EBRC) 8

5. Scalable, Adaptive, and Resilient Autonomy (SARA) 13

6. Strengthening Teamwork for Robust Operations in Novel Groups (STRONG) 14

7. Army AI Innovations Institute (A2I2) 14

8. Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver (TBAM) 15 B. Federal Award Information 18 C. Eligibility Information 20

1. Eligible Applicants 20

2. Cost Sharing or Matching 20 D. Application and Submission Information 21

1. Address to View FOA 21

2. Whitepaper Preparation and Submission 21

3. Proposal Preparation and Submission 23

4. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 35

5. Submission Dates and Times 36

6. Intergovernmental Review 37

7. Funding Restrictions 37

8. Other Submission Requirements 37 E. Application Review Information 38

1. Evaluation Criteria 38

2. Review and Selection Process 38

3. Recipient Qualifications 46 F. Federal Award Administration Information 48

1. Award Notices 48

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 48

3. Reporting 55 G. Agency Contacts 56 H. Other Information 57

1. Cooperative Agreement Proposals 57

I. OVERVIEW OF THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

A. Required Overview Content

1. Agency Name Army Research Office, a directorate of the U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL)

Issuing Acquisition Office U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground, Research Triangle Park (ACC- APG-RTP) Division

2. Research Opportunity Title DEVCOM ARL HBCU/MI Research Partnerships

3. Announcement Type Initial Announcement

4. Research Opportunity Number

W911NF-24-S-0001

5. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number and Title

12.431 – Basic Scientific Research

6. Response Dates

a. Questions

Questions regarding this FOA must be submitted via email (usarmy.rtp.devcom-arl.mbx.hbcu-mi-programs@army.mil) by December 22, 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

b. Whitepapers

January 5, 2024 no later than 4:00 PM Eastern Time

c. Selection of whitepapers for full proposal on January 26, 2024

d. Applications (also referred to as “Proposals” in this FOA)

March 1, 2024 no later than 4:00 PM Eastern Time

B. Additional Overview Information

The DoD agencies involved in this program reserve the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals submitted in response to this announcement. The participating DoD agencies will provide no funding for direct reimbursement of whitepaper or proposal development costs.

Whitepapers and proposals submitted in response to this FOA will not be returned to the applicant. It is the policy of participating DoD agencies to treat all proposals as sensitive, competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation.

An applicant may withdraw a proposal at any time before award by written notice or by email sent to one of the Agency Contacts listed in this FOA.

Proposals submitted to this FOA must address elements of one of the Technical Program areas listed in Section II.B of this document. Additional information on the scope of the funding areas is listed below.

This will be a two-step application process:

The application process under this FOA consists of a Whitepaper stage and a Proposal stage. The purpose of requesting Whitepapers is to minimize the effort associated with the production of detailed proposals for those applicants that have little chance of being selected for funding. The Government’s decision to invite a Proposal will be based upon the evaluation results of a timely and compliant Whitepaper submission. Only Whitepapers of the highest merit will receive an invitation from the Government to submit a Proposal. An Applicant that does NOT submit a timely and compliant whitepaper, is NOT eligible to submit a Proposal for consideration for funding. An Applicant that does NOT receive an invitation from the Government to submit a Proposal is NOT eligible to submit a Proposal. An Applicant invited to submit a Proposal will receive feedback on their Whitepaper.

(End of Section)

II. DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Overview

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Historically Black College and University (HBCU)/Minority-Serving Institution (MI) Research Partnership.

Under the DEVCOM ARL HBCU/MI Research Partnership, funding will be provided for HBCU/MIs to support basic research focused on partnerships with major DEVCOM ARL research programs. The focus of this effort is to advance innovative basic research in areas of strategic importance to the Army by bringing competitively selected HBCU/MI research teams into existing Army Futures Command (AFC) Collaborative Research Alliances (CRAs), Collaborative Technology Alliances (CTAs), and research centers. The Army CRAs, CTAs, and centers work with Army, industry, and other academic partners to conduct and transition research to technology demonstration.

This is a call for HBCUs/MIs to submit whitepapers expressing their interest in participating in new research partnerships with opportunities and to recruit, educate, and train outstanding students and post-doctoral researchers through participation in collaborative research in science and technology areas relevant to the Army. This opportunity will establish three to five new HBCU/MI research partnerships, each selected to enhance existing research under an individual Army CRA, CTA, and/or center.

Whitepapers are to be submitted addressing one of the seven ARL research program opportunities described in Section II.B. The format and content of the Whitepapers, and for invited proposals, as well as submission information, are described below and in the following sections. Whitepapers may be submitted to more than one of the seven ARL Programs; however, each Program requires a separate submission. Further, while there is no limit on the number of Whitepapers submitted by each institution, each named Principal Investigator from an institution can submit only one Whitepaper to each of the seven ARL Programs.

2. Army Center for Synthetic Biology

a. Background

The Army Center for Synthetic Biology is a basic research program initiated by the Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM)/Army Research Laboratory (ARL)/Army Research Office (ARO).

It focuses on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security. It seeks to increase the Army's intellectual capital in synthetic biology and improve its ability to address future challenges. The Army Center for Synthetic Biology brings together universities, research institutions, companies, and individual scholars and supports multidisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Department of the Army (DA). The Army Center for Synthetic Biology aims to promote research in specific areas of synthetic biology and to promote a candid and constructive relationship between the Army Science and Technology (S&T) enterprise and the synthetic biology research community.

Proposed efforts under this opportunity will collaborate and cooperate with performers executing awards issued previously under prior funding opportunities for the Army Center for Synthetic Biology and with DEVCOM ARL and other organizations within the Army S&T Enterprise. Proposals must include collaboration plan that describes how collaboration, cooperation, and communication will be accomplished among proposing team members, other awardees under the Army Center for Synthetic Biology, and researchers within DEVCOM ARL and other organizations within the Army S&T Enterprise. All awardees are expected to collaborate and cooperate with and among each other as well as researchers within DEVCOM ARL and other organizations within the Army S&T Enterprise in order to achieve unity of effort toward the goals of the Army Center for Synthetic Biology.

b. Research Thrusts for the Army Center for Synthetic Biology

The technical scope of the Center is defined along the following thrust areas: 1) Predictive Design of Engineered Biological Materials, 2) Predictive Design of Engineered Cellular Systems in Defined Environments.

i. Predictive Design of Engineered Biological Materials

The objective of this thrust is to develop experimental and computational tools enabling the scalable synthesis, assembly and characterization of rationally designed biological materials with control over final material properties. Proposers are encouraged to focus efforts in this thrust on materials exhibiting more than one material property (multifunctional materials) for which a biological solution is anticipated to exceed material properties currently attainable via traditional chemical and/or materials science approaches. Properties of interest include, but are not limited to: optical, mechanical, structural, computational/logic functions. Proposers must provide rationale for the materials and properties selected. A major goal of this thrust is the development of generalizable predictive tools that will support the rational design of multifunctional biological materials beyond those selected for experimental investigation under the Army Center for Synthetic Biology.

Sub-areas within in this thrust could include: comprehensive sampling of the biological material property landscape; material analytical characterization tools; predictive design tools. Additional detail, challenges, and knowledge gaps related to these sub-areas are indicated below:

(1) Comprehensive sampling of the biological material property landscape The development of predictive tools enabling the rational design of multifunctional materials with targeted properties will depend upon robust experimental data sets that comprehensively correlate resultant material properties to specific biological features. Challenges include, but are not limited to: development of approaches to experimentally generate and comprehensively characterize large libraries of variants of the selected material(s); determination of the relevant biological features impacting the material properties of interest (e.g., genetic sequence, molecular structure, epigenetic modification, post-translational modification, molecular interactions, biotic-abiotic interfaces, etc.); delineation of the boundaries of the biological feature-material property landscape.

(2) Material analytical characterization tools

Robust characterization tools will be required to analyze the large material variant libraries and provide high-quality pedigreed data for the development of predictive tools. Challenges include, but are not limited to: development of high-throughput analytical methods for characterization, screening and selection of variants with targeted multifunctional material properties;

development of sensitive, non-destructive characterization tools that enable analysis of buried interfaces.

(3) Predictive design tools A major goal of this thrust is the development of generalizable predictive tools that will support the rational design of multifunctional biological materials. Challenges include, but are not limited to: development of a comprehensive informatics pipeline; development of robust predictive tools that enable informed design using synthetic biology to produce biological materials with targeted multifunctional properties; creation of algorithms that extract the critical biological features underlying material properties; development of strategies and techniques supporting extrapolation of property prediction to the macroscale; testing and validation of the computational tools/pipelines via prediction of variants required to realize a given set of multifunctional properties, experimental production of the engineered biological material specimens, and characterization of the structure and properties of the resulting materials.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but is provided to help potential Applicants target their proposals appropriately.

ii. Predictive Design of Engineered Cellular Systems in Defined Environments

The objective of this thrust is to develop experimental and computational tools that support the predictive design of engineered cellular consortia in a defined environment. Proposers must provide rationale for the consortia composition, environment and engineered function(s) selected for study. Environments of interest include, but are not limited to: geological systems (e.g., soil, rock), interfaces in the built environment, and corrosive systems. Specifically excluded are the human/animal environments. Engineered functions of interest include, but are not limited to:

extraction of valuable elements/materials, waste decomposition, sense and respond, and corrosion prevention. All experimental efforts under this thrust must be conducted in a controlled laboratory setting (e.g., surrogate environment) that accurately reflects the relevant natural environmental conditions anticipated for future operational performance (e.g., aqueous and non-aqueous composition, temperature, humidity, etc.).

Sub-areas within this thrust could include: genetic modification of consortia; stability of engineered biological modifications; control of engineered function. Additional detail, challenges, and knowledge gaps on these sub-areas are indicated below:

(1) Genetic modification of consortia Within the environments of interest, any engineered organisms will exist within consortia that also contain non-engineered organisms. A goal of this thrust is to develop approaches to selectively modify specific organisms within a naturally occurring consortia. Challenges include, but are not limited to: development of relevant surrogate environment(s); development of tools to genetically manipulate environmentally robust chassis organisms (e.g., fungi, extremophiles);

development of methods to effectively target specific organisms within a consortium for genetic modification; development of approaches to genetically modify specific members of a consortium while the consortium is located within a defined environment.

(2) Stability of engineered genetic modifications Detailed analysis of the stability of engineered genetic modifications within the context of a consortium is critical not only to ensure the reliable function of the engineered organisms, but also to prevent unintended impacts on the non-engineered organisms within the consortium.

Challenges include, but are not limited to: analysis of the fate of engineered DNA within the consortium, including gene transfer, persistence, mutation, etc.; determination of the impact of environmental variation (e.g. temperature, humidity, surface material, etc.) on the function and stability of engineered genetic modifications within the context of a consortium.

(3) Control of engineered function A major goal of this thrust is to gain fundamental understanding of the interactions between engineered microorganisms and the biological, chemical and physical parameters of their environment to inform the predictive design of engineered approaches to support robust controlled performance in a defined environment. Challenges include, but are not limited to:

development of approaches to experimentally measure the impact of the biological, chemical and physical parameters of the environment on the function of engineered microorganisms in the context of a consortium; design of engineered biological programs that support tightly regulated activation and inactivation of engineered function; generation of computational models that describe the environmental interactions impacting the function of engineered microorganisms with and without the addition of engineered biological control schemes; development and validation of predictive tools that identify optimal control schemes to support prolonged regulated function of engineered organisms within a given environment and consortium composition.

c. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Stepanie McElhinny, stephanie.a.mcelhinny.civ@army.mil, 919- 549-4240

3. Ultra-Wide Bandgap (UWBG) RF Center

The Army ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) RF Electronics Center is a multidisciplinary basic research center for extreme-radio-frequency electronics (x-RF electronics) based on ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors and related emerging materials. It will facilitate collaboration between extramural academic researchers and the Army in pursuit of a mutual goal: generating the foundational knowledge in solid-state physics, device structures, integrated circuit design, materials discovery and development, and physics-based machine learning needed to enable the next generation of RF electronics with unprecedented power, bandwidth, frequency agility, and size-weight-and-power (SWaP) requirements.

The Center will provide the Army with a new ability to create advanced RF technologies across its modernization priorities for robust multi-domain operations in highly contested electromagnetic (EM) environments. In particular, the Center aims to create RF electronic device structures that break the power density limit of WBG materials, maintain at least 10 dB of gain, and demonstrate at least an order of magnitude improvement in power density (W/mm) over current SoA WBG RF devices, especially in the upper millimeter-wave/submillimeter-wave regions of the EM spectrum.

The Center will develop methodologies to design, integrate, and fabricate UWBG semiconductors and related materials into RF electronic devices, and characterize these devices in terms of RF performance, carrier physics, thermal metrology, reliability, etc. Significant fundamental advances in the physics and materials science of UWBG semiconductors, with band gaps exceeding 4 eV, will be critical to realizing this goal. ARO seeks approaches that integrate strong theory, modelling, and experimental efforts. ARO also anticipates that the scale of this effort, the amount of data generated, and the desire to search and optimize over wide design parameter spaces for novel materials and device concepts, will be impossible to manage without complementary basic research in artificial intelligence (AI) and, in particular, in physics-informed machine learning (ML) and uncertainty quantification (UQ).

b. Topic Areas

The topic areas for the UWBG RFE Center consists of three main topics: UWBG Semiconductor Physics and Devices, UWBG Materials, and Physics-Driven Machine Learning for UWBG Materials and RF Device Development. Proposals are encouraged to address one, several, or all these areas.

i. UWBG Semiconductor Physics and Devices

Electric fields oscillating at high frequency and intensity in a semiconductor present an extreme environment for charged carriers, and the physics of these carriers under such extreme conditions is poorly understood. For example, researchers lack a complete understanding about how holes and electrons interact with photons, phonons, polarons, other electrons/holes, and other quasiparticles, both in the bulk of the materials and at interfaces. Deeper insight into heat generation and transport within a device and across interfaces, and methods to characterize this at extreme power/frequency, is also needed. To date this has required scientists and engineers to rely on extrapolation and Edisonian approaches to develop new device concepts that are poorly optimized or faulty. The Center will establish principled understanding of governing physical phenomena from models capable of coupling nonlinear active dynamics with full-wave electromagnetic calculations, and capture interactions at frequencies where the size of active structures is comparable to the wavelength. The goal of this topic is to create RF electronic device structures that break the power density limit of GaN, maintain at least 10 dB of gain, and demonstrate at least an order of magnitude improvement in power density (W/mm) over current SoA WBG RF devices. These metrics should be pursued particularly in the upper millimeter-wave/submillimeter-wave regions of the EM spectrum: 90 - 1000 GHz. Subtopics under this thrust include the following:

a) UWBG Semiconductor Physics

b) UWBG Semiconductor Devices

c) Novel approaches to integration of WBG/UWBG semiconductors

ii. UWBG Materials

The goal of this topic is to realize electronic-grade UWBG semiconductor materials, with material properties that surpass GaN, the current state-of-the-art semiconductor for RF electronics. The

Center will explore UWBG materials synthesis and characterization, both experimentally and theoretically, and the use of AI/ML techniques for discovering new UWBG materials, and for optimizing their properties for device structures. Example UWBG materials of interest include, but are not limited to, aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), cubic boron nitride (c-BN), and diamond. A complete set of synthesis and processing tools will be critical for the success of the Center. Critical materials-related issues include, but are not limited to, large area substrate and film growth, device homoepitaxy and heteroepitaxy, device contact and surface passivation, modeling and characterization of defect behavior, modeling and characterization of dopant incorporation and activation, and discovery of new compound UWBG materials.

Complementary efforts examining novel approaches to RF materials are also expected to be useful;

these may include examining unusual growth methods, examining new integration approaches that may allow existing materials (e.g., GaN, Ga2O3) to overcome shortcomings that would otherwise limit their utility for high-power RF electronics, or even considering exotic materials concepts, like 2D materials, twistronics, or topological materials, as potential platforms for next generation RF electronics. Subtopics under this thrust include the following:

a) Novel approaches to large area, uniform growth of UWBG semiconductors

b) Fundamental studies of growth processes, defects, and doping in UWBG semiconductors

c) Discovery of new UWBG semiconductors and alternative materials for RF electronics

iii. Physics-Driven AI/ML for UWBG Materials and Device Discovery

The goal of this topic is to develop AI/ML methodologies that allow for a more efficient sampling of materials phase space, thermodynamic energy landscapes, and RF electronic device design, with quantified uncertainty, in order to reduce the reliance on empirical and Edisonian approaches to discovery and design. The sheer breadth and depth of available parameter space in UWBG materials design and RF electronic device design necessitates the use of data-driven techniques, like AI and ML, to guide and inform efficient theory development, simulation, and experimentation. Because available data for UWBG materials and devices are limited, diverse, and expensive to generate, an alternative, physics-based machine learning (ML) approach is warranted. While ML techniques can and have been proven to help in finding patterns in large datasets, their use with smaller datasets with the incorporation of physical laws and constraints in lieu of large datasets is still in its nascent stage of development. A physics-aware ML approach, wherein ML learned and corrected for the discrepancy between the simulations and real-world observations, could potentially outperform a pure trial-and-error ML training strategy. Similarly, ML could enable us to derive more value from existing physics-based simulations. This type of approach will be one of the thrusts in the work carried out under this Center.

c. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Tom Oder, tom.n.oder.civ@army.mil, 919-549-4297

4. Energetics Basic Research Center (EBRC)

The EBRC is a basic research program initiated by DEVCOM-ARL. It focuses on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security; it seeks to increase the Army's intellectual capital in energetic materials (EM) and improve its ability to address future challenges. EBRC brings together universities, research institutions, companies, and individual scholars and supports multidisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Department of the Army (DA).

The EBRC aims to promote research in specific areas of EMs and to promote a candid and constructive relationship between DA and the energetics research community.

The future Army is projected to be unable to achieve dominance in range and lethality due to inadequate energetic formulations and form factor limitations associated with current weapon systems. Basic research generates new knowledge that may be exploited to develop and deliver new materials and technologies that contribute to enhanced lethal effects at the system level as well as increased range and a smaller payload. These, in turn, enable space for larger, mission-critical systems, and shorter time-to-target ensuring Army battlefield dominance in Multi-Domain Operations. Army research must encompass new ways to expedite the discovery, design, and scale-up of new materials and concepts which when integrated into newly designed weapons components (e.g. additively manufactured high strength steels with pre-formed fragmentation patterns, and structural reactive materials) developed at ARL and across the Army and DoD communities, will deliver decisive weapons overmatch.

To achieve the desired future technological overmatch, advances must be made in new synthetic methodologies targeting novel energetic materials to increase performance for both explosive and propulsion applications. Physics-based synthesis (e.g., processes that use pressure, mechanical action, electromagnetic fields and/or high-energy plasmas) can potentially access materials outside those available via classical chemical synthesis, allowing exploitation of novel, non-traditional materials capable of explosive energy release (e.g., dense metastable extended solids such as doped poly-nitrogen, structural-bond-energy release materials, composite reactive materials).

Further, fundamental understanding leading to control of energy storage and release for explosive and propellant applications is required. Current knowledge gaps are extensive relying largely based on empirical rules of thumb used to identify targets. We still do not know the answers to basic questions such as “what makes a good explosive?” To address these gaps, validated multiscale models and advanced experimentation capable of capturing the relevant physics and chemistries of violent, rapid reacting events are needed to identify and understand controlling mechanisms and rates of energy release under the full range of conditions for a variety of energetic materials. This information should be able to inform the design, synthesis, and formulation of novel, stable, high-energy density materials for advanced explosive and propellant concepts. This fundamental understanding will lead to breakthrough materials and concepts.

Strong collaborations between DoD and academia are necessary to overcome challenges associated with achieving the desired goals. Some of these challenges include: developing methods and materials allowing for the manipulation of energy release rates; exploitation of structures and features across length scales, fundamental understanding of the initiation, break-up, and fragmentation during and after detonative energy release; and advanced models and experimental methodologies to capture the relevant chemistry and physics. Tackling these will require a large comprehensive cooperative effort (while also allowing for single effort exploratory efforts for high-risk concepts) with a strong emphasis on new material synthesis (that targets advanced performance) with related experimental and theoretical characterization, performance evaluation, and concept development to fully exploit the totality of available energy. Listed below are knowledge gaps and basic research opportunities which are to be addressed by the EBRC. These are discussed in further detail in the topic area sub-section below.

i. Novel materials and synthesis methods

ii. Microstructure and geometry influence on energetic release

iii. Advanced diagnostics and modeling

Seven efforts are currently underway in the EBRC, one large, team-oriented center (Center) which addresses all three of the topic areas above and six single investigator-type awards (Seedlings) which each address at least one of the topic areas above. The Center and Seedling awards collaborate and cooperate among themselves and with DEVCOM-ARL. It is expected that awards under this FOA will collaborate and cooperate similarly. Whitepapers and subsequent invited proposals under this topic must address at least one of the three thrust areas above.

b. Topic Areas

The purpose of this topic is to solicit ideas across a wide range of disciplines, including chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering. Discovery and innovation that enable the rapid and effective exploration and validation of novel energetic materials is the main objective. These ideas should lead to and demonstrate significant advancements in the energy density, sensitivity, structural properties, synthesis, and prediction of properties and characteristics of energetic materials and energetic material systems. This topic focuses on basic research as defined at 32 CFR 22.105.

The technical scope of the initiative is defined along the following thrust areas: 1) novel materials and synthesis methods, 2) microstructure and geometry influence on energetic release, 3) advanced diagnostics and modeling.

i. Novel Materials and Synthesis Methods For the purposes of this topic, novel methods is meant to be a comprehensive term for concepts that can be clearly distinguished from traditional materials or approaches. Materials developed under this area will require advanced diagnostics to accurately and rapidly assess performance and survivability metrics, as well as requiring novel theoretical tools to guide synthesis chemists and aid in optimizing final materials. Sub-areas within in this thrust could include: inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, structural energetics, next generation synthesis techniques, and radiation interactions for driving chemistry. Additional detail, challenges, and knowledge gaps, on these sub-areas are indicated below:

(1) Inorganic chemistry includes the architecture and/or formulation of aluminum or other high energy metal or organometallic articles (including alloys, composites, coatings) to increase energy release rates. These materials also include non-traditional “non-CHNO” energetic materials. These materials will target higher detonation velocities, blast effects, thermal outputs, as well as enhancing rocket propellants through the reduction of two-phase flow losses.

Challenges include but are not limited to: control of ignition times, temperatures, and burn times; independent control of initiation and combustion conditions; material stabilization (heat, moisture, etc.); energy density; understanding multi-phase reactions; interfacial physics and chemistry; breakup and fragmentation influence on ignition and initiation.

(2) Organic chemistry includes the architecture and/or formulation of energetic binders/plasticizers, and energetic materials for explosive and propellant applications. These materials will target higher detonation velocities, blast effects, thermal outputs, as well as enhancing rocket propellants through increased performance and mechanical properties.

Challenges include lack of fundamental understanding of polymers in formulations as pertains to stress/strain properties; aging; impact of high temperatures; interfacial chemistry between polymers and energetic material crystals; and generation of new energetic polymer binders.

(3) Structural energetics includes exploring and synthesizing energetic materials targeting enhanced mechanical properties that can support significant loads with little deformation while maintaining high energy content and energy release rates. Challenges include the discovery and development of novel materials and understanding the effect of microstructure on ignition, reaction rates, and strength.

(4) Next generation synthesis techniques will consider the ability to scale up new and known compounds in new chemical spaces coupled with minimization of synthesis steps through the advancement of synthesis techniques. This will also enable the synthesis of previously notional compounds. Challenges include developing sufficient understanding of the intermediate synthesis chemistry to reduce steps. Predicting the contribution of individual molecules in formulations as well as the contribution of intermediate species and compounds during steps towards target species is also a significant challenge. Development of fast synthesis reactions that could enable flow instead of traditional batch processing is a possible research target in this sub-area.

(5) Radiation interactions for driving chemistry include exploring the driving reaction chemistry towards specific pathways through radiation (microwave, visible, infrared, ultraviolet, etc.) or plasmas. Exploration of these novel synthesis techniques will enable the synthesis of previously notional compounds as well as possibly reducing or speeding up the intermediate synthetic steps.

Challenges include identifying controlling mechanisms and species/radiation interactions. The ability to control and stabilize non-equilibrium chemistry and chemical kinetics is critical.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but is provided to help potential authors to target their proposals

ii. Microstructure and Geometry Influence on Energetic Release Research into the role microstructure and geometry play in the performance, response, and survivability of materials and formulations is crucial in maximizing gains in energetic material performance. Models and processing techniques developed under this line of effort will require advanced diagnostics to accurately and rapidly evaluate material characteristics, as well as requiring novel theoretical tools to gain fundamental understanding of the relevant physics and chemistry occurring across time and length scales. Sub-areas within in this thrust could include:

exploiting microstructure in EM response; and energy focusing, geometry, and sequencing.

Additional detail, challenges, and knowledge gaps, on these sub-areas are indicated below:

(1) Exploiting microstructure in EM response includes understanding the role of microstructure on performance and the physical / mechanical properties required to enable engineering solutions to formulations and system level response. Advances in this area will allow for the design and control of mechanical response and performance increases through control over physical microstructure and not solely through stored chemical energy. Challenges and gaps include the ability to image, in real-time, the evolution of microstructure during reactive and non-reactive events. Understanding how the microstructure evolves under extreme conditions (temperature, vibration) is necessary. Development of understanding of the connectivity across scales (from molecular to meso/grain scale) is critical. Another challenge is developing understanding of how shockwaves interact with material grain boundaries, material interfaces, and material defects.

(2) Focusing, geometry, and sequencing involves the exploration of novel geometries to exploit advanced materials geometries (possibly via advanced manufacturing techniques) and form-factors to maximize energy density and other performance gains through manipulation of large-scale interactions between different munition materials and material boundaries and interfaces.

Advances in this area will allow for the design and control of mechanical response and performance increases through control over large scale physical structure and not solely through stored chemical energy. Challenges include understanding the directing and focusing of shockwave and phonon energy to achieve desired energetic performance. Challenges also include phonon and acoustic coupling to chemistry especially involving interfaces and defects and where the material under question may be undergoing extreme strain at extreme pressures with significant temperature gradients.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but is provided to help potential authors to target their proposals

iii. Advanced Diagnostics and Modeling Research into advanced diagnostics and modeling is essential for characterization and understanding of the effects of novel chemistries, formulations, structures, and non-linear effects controlling performance and material response. Research will be driven to identification and fundamental understanding of factors controlling EM processes occurring through chemistries at extreme states, providing exploitable information leading to control the output of EM. Advances in diagnostics and modeling and simulation (M&S) are also needed for understanding of burning rate dependence on pressure to enable design of propellants with extended plateau burning behavior. Techniques developed under this thrust could be employed in a “fail early, fail fast” optimization approach to enable the rapid development of novel materials and concepts. Sub-areas within in this thrust could include: next generation diagnostics and advanced M&S.

Additional detail, challenges, and knowledge gaps, on these sub-areas are indicated below

(1) Next generation diagnostics are needed to advance small-scale tests designed to correctly reflect large-scale performance and mechanical metrics (all performance metrics, stability, etc.).

These advanced diagnostics should enable experimental stepping up in scale, ensuring translation between the small (milligram to gram scale) to system (kilogram and higher) level performance, and will be tied closely with modeling at each step, culminating in models capable of a priori prediction of system performance. Challenges in this area include obtaining a fundamental understanding of what is “lost” in scaling (particle interaction, additional heat and radiative losses, levels of turbulence in surrounding atmosphere, loss of “run-up” time/distance).

Additional challenges include imaging and optical diagnostics into/through dense clouds and opaque materials, and quickly obtaining equations of state with small sample sizes.

(2) Advanced modeling and simulation are needed to fully understand and subsequently enable tailoring of target materials, formulations, processing conditions, initiation, micro- and macro-structures, overall performance, and mechanical properties. Challenges include capturing relevant chemistry and physics with computational efficiency to enable design and characterization in silico. Modeling challenges would include determining suitable performance, mechanical, and multi-species/component metrics for target molecules, developing reduced order models (including machine-learned surrogate models) that depict full chemical mechanisms obtained from quantum mechanical models, overcoming difficulties associated with limited data for verification and validation, uncertainty quantification, and determination of appropriate use of machine learning and artificial intelligence methods and methodologies.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but is provided to help potential authors to target their proposals

c. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Ralph Anthenien, ralph.a.anthenien2.civ@army.mil, 919-549-

5. Scalable, Adaptive, and Resilient Autonomy (SARA)

The Scalable, Adaptive, and Resilient Autonomy (SARA) program is focused on developing and experimentally accelerating emerging research in autonomous mobility and maneuverability, scalable heterogeneous and collaborative behaviors, and human agent teaming. Component-level autonomy technologies developed in SARA are expected to enable adaptive and resilient Intelligent Systems that can reason about the environment, work in distributed and collaborative heterogeneous teams, and make decisions at a relevant operational tempo to enable Autonomous Maneuver in complex and contested environments. The SARA program consists of a series of technology sprint efforts executed in annual program cycles. Each topic is focused on addressing a different scientific area within the scope of the broad research aims of SARA. Each topic is carefully chosen based on program achievements from the previous year, on scientific and technological advancements by the broader research community, and in a way that systematically converges on the specific long-term SARA program goals.

b. Topic Areas

In order to achieve this vision, advancements are needed in the following areas:

Novel methods for all-terrain ground and aerial maneuver to interact with and move through complex environments.

Methods for scalable and heterogeneous collaborative behaviors in support of collaborative air and ground manned-unmanned teaming operations.

Techniques for improved perception, decision-making, and adaptive behaviors for fully autonomous maneuver in contested environments.

Methods, metrics, and tools to facilitate, simulate, and enable testing and evaluation of emerging approaches for intelligent and autonomous systems under Army relevant constraints and environments.

Experimental testbeds to develop and refine knowledge products to inform and transition technology to Army stakeholders.

c. Point of Contact: Mr. Eric Spero, eric.spero.civ@army.mil, 240-687-7334

6. Strengthening Teamwork for Robust Operations in Novel Groups (STRONG)

Rapid advancements in computational capabilities, machine learning and AI, have led to the capabilities of machines to dramatically outperform humans across several dimensions critical to task performance and decision making. However, humans maintain a deep, intuitive, and immediate understanding of the world that is critical, and is, as yet, unmatched by machine intelligence. The STRONG program re-envisions human-machine partnerships and seeks to develop to novel concepts and methods that effectively partner Soldiers with machines in collaborative systems in order to create capabilities that surpass either humans or machines along on a wide variety of decision making, intelligence and creative reasoning tasks. Successful approaches will directly challenge the notion of humans as operators of technology in order to allow partnerships which can adapt to extreme complexity, time constraints, and informational uncertainty. In order to enable these adaptive systems, humans and machines will need to be able to work together in a seamless way across individual human and machine capabilities, changes in team composition, and adaptation to changing conditions.

b. Topic Area

Capitalize on the potential of these newly developing adaptive technologies the STRONG program focuses on developing anti-disciplinary approaches which combine insights from neuroscience, machine learning, mathematics and teaming sciences. Research should focus on combining human and machine intelligences in novel ways to create new forms of hybrid intelligences going beyond the possible in todays state of the art. Example research areas of interest may: 1, Explore novel methodologies to understand and enhance the performance of integrated teams of humans and computational agents, particularly in tasks necessitating hybrid intelligence and adaptation.; 2, Cultivate groundbreaking, task-agnostic human-guided ML capabilities. These should bolster team efficacy, facilitating seamless co-adaptation between human and machine teammates. Crucially, this should demand minimal preliminary knowledge of agent competencies from the human participants, while still ensuring superior team performance.; 3, Design human-machine teaming frameworks powered by neuro-inspired algorithms.

These intelligent agents should capitalize on the latest discoveries in neuroscience to interface with humans ergonomically; 4, Develop hybrid intelligence models tailored to expedite decision-making processes. Additionally, these paradigms should address creative ideation challenges that neither machines nor humans can tackle in isolation. Possible approaches might encompass, but are not restricted to, machine-enabled crowdsourcing, neuromodulation, and unique large scale human-AI partnerships. Including combinations of the above areas.

c. Point of Contact: Dr .David Boothe, david.l.boothe7.civ@army.mil, 301-996-2329

7. Army AI Innovations Institute (A2I2)

The Army AI Innovation Institute (A2I2 ) is the Army’s premier basic science research and technology transition program focused on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML). A2I2’s research program aims to advance and enhance AI/ML algorithms and software to aid Soldiers’ ability to achieve operational overmatch in future multi-domain operations battlefield. In particular, A2I2 seeks to improve AI/ML and autonomous agents’ ability to improve air/ground reconnaissance and expeditionary maneuver capabilities. By developing AI/ML algorithms and software, A2I2 strives to establish fundamental capabilities that Soldier can use to compete in an increasingly fast-pace and chaotic battlefield that will exceed what human cognitive capacity can handle alone. Toward these goals, A2I2 research is currently focused in three primary areas: (1) Scene understanding for adversarial threats, degraded visual environments, and tracking of moving objects; (2) Robotics movement over rugged terrain requiring limited human engagement and correction; and (3) Secure and informative data sharing among multiple autonomous systems and human collaborators.

b. Topic Area

A2I2 is seeking to expand the state of the art in AI/ML to achieve overmatch over near-peer adversaries in a dynamic battlefield that will only increase in complexity over time, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Mixed-entity battlefields will involve the strengths and weaknesses of human and autonomous actors as well as human and artificial intelligence applied to information-processing and decision-making objectives. Two mission types take on greater significance for Army research in AI/ML: expeditionary maneuver and ai/ground reconnaissance.

Expeditionary maneuver refers to missions that require strategic placement and movement of Warfighters and their assets in a battlefield to gain overmatch versus adversaries. Air/ground reconnaissance refers to missions to obtain information about environmental threats and adversary activity from sensor or autonomous assets operating on the ground or in the air. These and other types of missions require capabilities that may be developed via AI/ML in autonomous agents, sensors, or edge computing resources. A2I2 also aims to provide unique data processing algorithms to provide information to human decision-makers in ways that support the human’s cognitive processing needs and expansion of a repository of proven AI/ML algorithms, data, and software. Examples of results of AI/ML research of interest to the Army include new robotic movement capabilities, cognitive modeling integration with AI processes, advances in cyber-security for autonomous agents, new AI simulation processes, advanced sensing in Degraded Visual Environments (DVEs), improved object recognition, and advanced machine learning techniques.

c. Point of Contact: Dr. Dan Cossenti, daniel.n.cassenti.civ@army.mil, 301-394-2138

8. Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver (TBAM)

Future Army forces will be called upon to operate and maneuver in multi-domain operations (MDO), against a modern and capable peer adversary. The battlefield of the future may impose additional constraints on maneuver forces such as disruption in communication as well as positioning services. To field a highly capable fighting force in this future battlefield, novel tactics and doctrines leveraging nascent technologies in robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) will need to be developed. Teams of RAS will serve an increasingly critical role in the future force to deliver situational awareness, defend key locations or positions, or take point in dynamic and hazardous situations. Resilience to disruptions, failures, or unexpected scenarios, is a key quality for teams of RAS to operate alongside other future Army forces. The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research

Laboratory (ARL) is focused on developing fundamental understanding and informing the art-of-the-possible for warfighter concepts through research to greatly improve the scope of mission capabilities of teams of RAS, develop robust and resilient approaches to plan under extreme conditions of uncertainty, to learn coordinated strategies for groups of agents to achieve a common objective, all within a complex maneuver environment including adversaries. The Tactical Behaviors for Autonomous Maneuver Collaborative Research Program (TBAM-CRP) is focused on developing and experimentally evaluating coordinated and individual behaviors for small groups of autonomous agents to learn doctrinal as well as novel tactics for maneuvering in military relevant environments.