When satellites fall from the sky DARPA's new ocean network will still work

0 0

By Matthew Griffin Security and Privacy 21st January 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

With China and Russia investing more money in anti-satellite weapons DARPA wants to create a new network that can’t be interrupted if their birds go black.

It’s never a great time when you lose contact with your $600 billion military machine – particularly if it’s because your satellites have been destroyed, or your communications systems jammed. So, in an age where both China and Russia are accelerating the development of new anti-satellite warfare and new artificial intelligence (AI) electronic jamming systems America’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has decided that it wants to provide the American armed forces with as many communications contingencies as possible.

DARPA wants to genetically engineer smart plants to act as surveillance devices

As the name suggests DARPA’s latest network, dubbed the Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA), is being set up in the open ocean and it’s a collection of “node” buoys, deployed from ships or planes, that are tethered together by fiber optic cables to create a radio frequency (RF) data network.

The fiber cables that connect the buoys together are thin but they’re being designed to withstand at least 30 days at sea which the US hopes should give it enough time to restore normal communications. Asides from the challenging conditions powering the network presents another problem, and the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab have created a concept buoy that draws energy from the constant ebb and flow of the ocean. The TUNA program has been in DARPA’s pipeline for the past few years, and with the first phase now complete, the next step is to build a fully working system and test it at sea.

Texas might become a testing ground for new EMP proof electricity grids

DARPA’s seafaring solution compliments two other communications programs. One called “Dynamic Network Adaptation for Mission Optimization” (DyNAMO) whose goal is to develop a system that allows all different types of equipment found in different types of aircraft to talk to each other, creating something akin to a peer-to-peer communications network in the sky, and another project called “A Mechanically Based Antenna” (AMEBA) that hopes to extend the internet, using low frequency RF into the deepest parts of the oceans and through solid rock into the world’s deepest mines.

Stay tuned.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.