DARPA starts effort to build modeling-as-a-service capability

The Defense Department is looking for ways to develop a modeling and simulation as a service concept that would let teams from the different branches and U.S. allies develop and test new concepts.

The need is there because of the increasing pace of operations and ever-evolving threats.

DOD's goal is develop a set of tools that planners can tap on demand and running simulations and model operations, particularly with a broad set of assets across all domains – lands, sea, air, space and cyber.

In a notice for a set of small business innovation research contracts, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will be collecting proposals for phase one and two awards from March 17 through April 20.

DARPA's SBIR lists three challenges it wants solutions for:

• Models that could address a given mission analysis problem.
• Assessment and classification of assets.
• Configuration of assets to meet the analytical need.

The agency is looking for what it calls a “smart” model that can enable a multi-disciplinary team to work together to rapidly discover, evaluate and integrate solutions. They also want operational units to be able to conduct analysis at theater-level and across multiple domains.

For phase two, DARPA wants the focus to be on the model management framework and process, such as identifying and classifying different types of assets currently in use, and an architecture for managing future types of assets.

They also want to be able to determine the level of effort needed to create a solution for a given analytical question.

Algorithms developed under this SBIR should have potential applications in private industry and defense, DARPA said in the notice.

The SBIR contracts could be worth up to $225,000 for phase one awards and up to $1.5 million for phase two.