Recent work on Compressive Offloading by Shuochao Yao, from IoBT at Illinois (now at GMU), has been featured in defense circles lately on both sides of the Atlantic after it was used successfully in some Army experiments. The work originally received a best paper award from ACM Sensys 2020 – the top Sensor Networks conference. Highlighted stories available at ExecutiveGov and ArmyRecognition.
Research from the Internet of Battlefield Things Collaborative Research Alliance with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) has resulted in the development of a new virtual experimentation facility. The new virtual testing ground shortens the time it takes to bring a basic research innovation from an academic environment to an Army field experiment where it can interact with military systems. See the full story at https://www.army.mil/article/249319
Army DEVCOM has released the news article “AI research strengthens certainty in battlefield decision-making” featuring the success of IoBT CRA in developing a framework for neural networks processing which enables AI to better judge objects and potential threats in hostile environments. Dr. Maggie Wigness, Army researcher and deputy collaborative alliance manager of the IoBT CRA and Dr. Tarek Abdelzaher, a professor at the University of Illinois and the academic lead of the lab’s IoBT CRA were both quoted in the piece. READ THE STORY HERE.
IoBT’s Tarek Abdelzaher participated in a panel with Dr. Alexander Kott, Chief Scientist of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Lieutenant Colonel Arnel David, co-author of “Military Strategy in the 21st Century” and Cofounder of the “UK Fight Club” in a the Digital Transformation in Defence Webinar Series panel on “Defence IQ”. The webinar series covers the development and application of some of the most innovative technologies emerging today, as well as advising on core requirements, security considerations and future technology implementation.
Army researchers organized and chaired a scientific conference to advance artificial intelligence and machine learning — virtually — to help build the foundation for the future force. The 2020 SPIE Defense and Commercial Sensing Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Multi-Domain Operations Applications II, was held as a virtual conference online. An invited IoBT talk was the most downloaded after the conference keynote.
More here.
PI Abdelzaher, the academic lead of the IoBT CRA, was inducted to the 2019 class of ACM Fellows. ACM Fellow is ACM’s most prestigious grade of membership, recognizing the top 1% of the Association’s global membership for their “outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community.” Abdelzaher was recognized by ACM for “interdisciplinary contributions that bridge cyber-physical systems, social sensing, real-time computing, and control.” More here.
Bruce D. Jette, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, and Maj. Adam Taliaferro, USA, strategist in the future warfare division of the Army Futures and Concepts Center, elaborate the role of IoT and IoBT in supporting future army concepts to Signal Magazine. More here.
Tarek Abdelzaher, a professor of computer science and the academic lead of the Army Research Lab’s Alliance for IoBT Research on Evolving Intelligent Goal-Driven Networks (REIGN) joins the Illinois Innovators Podcast to talk about IoBT.
As the Army Futures Command celebrates its first anniversary and the progress it has made in modernizing the force, a recent study from its corporate research lab, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), highlights one of ways in which it is modernizing. By taking advantage of the massive technological advances in the civilian Internet of Things (IoT) and applying them in service to the warfighter, the ARL is furthering the viability of an Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT). More here.
iHLS calls for increased research into IoBT systems in military application in their recent article. Citing the success of current IoBT research for developing situational awareness for soldiers in difficult terrain, iHLS calls for studies that move beyond increasing levels of knowledge for soldiers to handling the information overload facing modern soldiers. “Information overload is highly likely in a fast-flowing operational environment and the great difficulty is in processing information and passing it down the chain of command to ensure it gets to the right place.” iHLS proposes using AI as a system to reduce redundant or extraneous information for optimized decision making in the field and development of further IoBT technology to enhance IoBT work.
