by
Mark Ollig
Imagine
computer software programs from today, operating harmoniously with computing
devices and data networks being used 100 years from now.
Sound
impossible?
Well,
hang on, folks; plans are in the works for creating such software.
One
branch of our government is working on creating long-lasting, self-adapting
computer software programs, capable of remaining “robust and functional” for at
least 100 years.
The
US military’s research and developments Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA), is taking the initiative in creating new technologies to
support adjustable and seemingly “future proof” software.
DARPA
recently began a new research program, called Building Resource Adaptive
Software Systems (BRASS).
BRASS
is investigating how to eliminate the time-consuming, and repeated updating and
upgrading of military software systems; all while maintaining network security.
Advances
will be required to develop “new linguistic abstractions, formal methods, and
resource-aware program analyses to discover and specify program
transformations, as well as systems designed to monitor changes in the
surrounding networked digital ecosystem,” according to a news release on
DARPA’s website.
A
new, forward-looking software programming platform would have extraordinary
flexibility, security, and longevity.
BRASS
will work towards the effortless maintainability of this new software; allowing
it to seamlessly adjust itself to any new computing operating conditions.
Software
not updated for adapting to new operating conditions may weaken the networks’
cyber-secure infrastructure, and degrade its ability to reliably maintain its
digital information content.
“Ensuring
applications continue to function correctly and efficiently in the face of a
changing operational environment is a formidable challenge,” said Suresh
Jagannathan, DARPA program manager.
BRASS
is undertaking what it calls “an entirely new clean-slate approach to software
design, composition and adaption.”
The
goal is the creation of a software platform which is survivable, adaptive, and
long-lived.
This
new software system will incorporate scalability; it needs to take into account
hardware or other software changes, in order to operate at maximum efficiency.
One
can only imagine the highly structured, procedure-solving algorithmic programs
and protocols, the code developers will come up with for maintaining the
reliability, adaptability, and security of a software platform with an intended
lifespan of 100 years.
DARPA’s
51-page BRASS solicitation research proposal (pdf file) from April 7, describes
in detail, their desire for the “tools” needed for constructing “long-lived,
survivable, and scalable adaptive software systems.”
You
can view this document file at: http://tinyurl.com/nnf77dm.
After
reading through the proposal, it seems to me this is a request for developers
to engineer a brand-new software ecosystem.
The
research and development challenges will be enormous for implementing such a
paradigm software platform.
I
imagine it will take many years for it to be fully developed.
This
new software design will interact with other software and hardware; learning
how to adapt its “behavior,” if you will; co-existing and operating in
congruence with the software programs and hardware devices it encounters in the
future.
DARPA
provided an artist’s concept image of what this 100-year software system might
look like, as it adapts to resource changes: http://tinyurl.com/kxhbnu9.
We
are all witness to the lightning speed at which technology is advancing.
Will
data handled and processed by the military, government agencies, and us, be
someday networked over an “advanced Internet” via an intelligent, autonomous,
self-supporting, hyper-complex software platform with a 100-year lifespan?
Stay
tuned.
