Noblis Forum Draws Leaders in Government and Industry for Discussion on Current and Future State of Autonomy

Leaders from government, industry and academia discussed the impact that autonomous machines—vehicles performing without human intervention in the air, space and on land—will have on human activity at a forum sponsored by Noblis on July 11 in Arlington, VA.

Amr ElSawy, president and CEO, Noblis, kicked off the event with an overview of autonomous operations including the role of operational integrity and application interoperability; operating domain requirements; and infrastructure architecture.

Finch Fulton, deputy assistant secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) gave the keynote address looking at automation’s future and the DOT focus on safety.

Karl Wunderlich, director of Surface Transportations Systems, Noblis, discussed and demonstrated how blockchain technology can help build trust between unfamiliar autonomous machines, and create a safer, more efficient, connected automated ecosystem. He and his team gave a demo of Noblis’ Pieces of Eight (Po8) system to illustrate the research they are doing in this area.

Two panel sessions looked at the current and future state of autonomous machines and how they impact human activity.

Mile Corrigan, vice president of Federal Civilian Solutions, Noblis, moderated a panel on the existing impact of autonomy, featuring:

  • Kenneth Leonard, director, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, DOT
  • Joshua Gustin, manager, Communication, Information, and Networks Program, Federal Aviation Administration
  • Jana Košecká, professor, Computer Science, George Mason University
  • Watch the video of Panel One

Matt Monaco, division manager, Aerospace Mission Solutions, Noblis, led a discussion on future challenges with panelists:

  • Dan “Animal” Javorsek, program manager, Strategic Technology Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Parimal Kopardekar, acting director, Aeronautics Research Institute, NASA
  • Patrick Lin, presidential innovation fellow, U.S. Department of Transportation
  • Watch the video of Panel Two

Here are links to news coverage of the event:

Federal Computer Week, July 11, 2019

DOT wants to preserve spectrum for connected vehicle apps

Spectrum reserved for autonomous vehicle safety transmissions is a key part of the Department of Transportation’s effort to set the foundation for the U.S. connected-vehicle infrastructure, said one of its top managers at a Noblis “State of Autonomy” event on July 11.

FEDSCOOP, July 11, 2019

Why DARPA wants more operational personnel

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, perhaps best known for helping launch the internet, needs a cultural shift in order to develop projects for future warfighting, Lt. Col. Dan Javorsek, program manager of the Strategic Technology Office, said at a Noblis conference on Thursday.

ExecutiveGov, July 15, 2019

Dan Javorsek: DARPA Must Apply ‘Operational Understanding’ in Emerging Tech Dev’t

Lt. Col. Dan Javorsek, program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Strategic Technology Office, said at a Noblis event that DARPA needs to incorporate operational understanding in technology development, FEDSCOOP reported Thursday.

Autonomy at Scale

Download Noblis’ Autonomy at Scale report discussing sensors; position, navigation and timing; machine learning in transportation civilian services; low-latency connectivity; surface transportation; air transportation; autonomous space systems; adversarial environments; cyber security; and interoperability.

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