Cybersecurity

Preparing for the internet of battlefield things

Even as developers are struggling with how to integrate the various pieces of the emerging internet of things, the federal government is investing millions for a five-year brainstorming project to explore how to develop and secure connected devices on the battlefield .

The Army Research Lab recently awarded $25 million to the Alliance for Internet of Battlefield Things Research on Evolving Intelligent Goal-driven Networks (IoBT REIGN) to develop new predictive battlefield analytics.

“It is a really big project,” said Tancréde Lepoint, computer scientist and cryptographer at SRI International and a member of the IoBT REIGN team. In all, Lepoint said, 20 researchers from six universities and SRI are involved in the project, along with an expected 10 researchers from the Army Research Lab.

According to an SRI announcement, “The IoBT will connect soldiers with smart technology in armor, radios, weapons, and other objects, to give troops ‘extra sensory’ perception, offer situational understanding, endow fighters with prediction powers, provide better risk assessment, and develop shared intuitions.” The project will also explore development of collaboration between autonomous agents and human warriors on the battlefield.