© Mark Ollig
The operation and reliability of military software systems and their data content are essential in maintaining our national security.
Imagine today’s software seamlessly working with future operating system platforms, processors, physical components, programming applications, and data storage devices.
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) is an advanced-technology branch of the US Department of Defense.
A major program to improve the resilience and longevity of complex software systems has been underway for some time now.
The program involves building a long-lived, survivable, and scalable, adaptive software system that will operate for a lengthened time.
DARPA was assigned the task of coming up with the computational and algorithmic requirements to ensure the military’s existing software will work with new advanced technologies for an extended period of 100 years.
That’s right, folks.
Think of the software program contained on a 1981 5.25-inch floppy disk we used on an IBM personal DOS (Disk Operating System) computer being able to work on a computing system platform in 2081.
However, guaranteeing existing software applications will perform at optimal functionality on devices and technologies across multiple software and hardware platforms over one century is a daunting challenge.
One would think that 50 years from now, quantum computing will be commonplace; however, by 2120, another technology will likely have taken its place.
In response to this monumental challenge, DARPA began a program called The Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems, or BRASS.
BRASS is researching methods of how existing software can adapt and modify itself to future technology advances.
What is needed are software operating systems continually adapting to future technology changes to work correctly for the original software.
Considerable time and financial costs are currently required to keep the US military software and their network platforms updated.
This year, the US Military budget is $722B. DARPA’s portion is $3.56 billion, of which $10 million is for BRASS.
“The goal of the [BRASS] is to realize foundational advances in the design and implementation of long-lived, survivable and complex software systems that are robust to changes in the physical and logical resources provided by their ecosystem,” described DARPA on its BRASS webpage.
“Ensuring applications continue to function correctly and efficiently in the face of a changing operational environment is a formidable challenge,” said Suresh Jagannathan, a DARPA program manager, who works in the Purdue University Computer Science department.
The research and development challenges will be enormous for implementing such a revolutionary software platform.
DARPA is working with Raytheon BBN Technologies on BRASS.
Raytheon BBN Technologies, located in Massachusetts, is an aerospace and defense company that employs 195,000 people, holds 40,000 patents, and has annual sales of $74B.
The interactive BRASS software network design will learn how to modify itself as it operates and adapts existing software with any new software programs and hardware devices it encounters.
I know of no existing experimental systems running government (or any other) software applications that will adapt and operate over future computing ecosystem networks for the next 100 years. Of course, if there were, it would no doubt be classified.
DARPA provided an artist’s concept image of what this 100-year software system might look like, as it adapts to resource changes: https://bit.ly/2OHnDx8.
We are all witnessing the rapid speed at which technology is advancing; what seemed like magic years ago, has become a reality.
Eventually, will our software and data operate and remain “robust and functional” over an adaptable software platform network within a 100-year lifespan?
Stay tuned.
Please be safe out there.
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| Source: https://www.darpa.mil |
