RESTON, Va.—September 10, 2019—Noblis, a leading provider of science, technology and strategy services to the federal government has received a 2019 Government – Industry Innovator award from 1105 Public Sector Media Group for Pieces of Eight (Po8), a trusted autonomous operations system that enables ad hoc collections of autonomous machines to communicate, self-organize, and plan coordinated motions and actions based on trust earned in prior interactions. Noblis will be recognized at the Government Innovation Awards event on Nov. 7. The awards celebrate the transformative public-sector activities from government, industry and individuals that are reimagining public-sector IT, according to 1105 Media.

“We are delighted to be recognized as a leader and innovator in the autonomy at scale arena, one of the many research efforts Noblis has undertaken in the past ten years to study the effects of autonomy on a larger scale – across air, sea, land, space and cyber domains,” said Amr ElSawy, Noblis president and chief executive officer. “Innovation is a common thread at Noblis and programs such as Po8 demonstrate how our forward-thinking research and technical solutions are helping our government customers solve their most complex challenges.”

The Noblis Po8 trusted autonomous operations concept has received significant recognition since its public release, including winning the Highest Potential Impact Award and the Most Creative Award at the MOBI (mobility open blockchain initiative) Grand Challenge in Munich, Germany in February 2019. More info here.

MOBI is a nonprofit global foundation formed to accelerate the adoption of standards in blockchain, distributed ledgers, and related technologies for the benefit of consumers, communities and mobility industries.

“The Noblis Po8 approach can have a significant impact on public sector endeavors, unmanned systems and the future of human-machine interaction,” said Mile Corrigan, vice president Federal Civilian Solutions, Noblis. “Our system enables nearby connected machines – such as autonomous passenger vehicles, autonomous drones or autonomous robots traversing hostile terrain – to share situational awareness regarding obstacles and threats projected over time, and collectively plan actions that avoid collision or other conflicts.”

The Noblis Po8 process links heterogenous autonomous machines using ad hoc networking and blockchain technology to demonstrate the effects of orchestrated autonomy in comparison to isolated autonomy. The Po8 system includes an accountability process of trust scores which are recorded on blockchain technology to help ensure transparency, accuracy and the security of the system.

“Po8 allows pick-up teams of autonomous machines to perform as if they have trained together extensively,” said Karl Wunderlich, Noblis research team lead.  “Further, if one machine in the system malfunctions or begins to perform erratically, the team will self-organize to re-assign critical team functions and isolate the compromised machine.”

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