ARL-TR-8283 ● FEB 2018

US Army Research Laboratory

Potential Science and Technology Game

Changers for the Ground Warfare of 2050: 

Selected Projections Made in 2017

by Alexander Kott, Kwong Choi, Brad Forch, Piotr Franaszczuk, 

Shashi Karna, Stephen Lee, Joseph Mait, Peter Reynolds, 

Brian Sadler, Ananthram Swami, and Bruce West

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ARL-TR-8283 ● FEB 2018

US Army Research Laboratory

Potential Science and Technology Game

Changers for the Ground Warfare of 2050: 

Selected Projections Made in 2017

by Alexander Kott

Office of the Director, ARL

Kwong Choi and Joseph Mait

Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, ARL

Brad Forch and Shashi Karna

Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, ARL

Piotr Franaszczuk

Human Research and Engineering Directorate, ARL

Stephen Lee, Peter Reynolds, and Bruce West

Army Research Office

Brian Sadler

Vehicle Technology Directorate, ARL

Ananthram Swami

Computational and Information Sciences Directorate, ARL

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Potential Science and Technology Game Changers for the Ground Warfare of 

2050: Selected Projections Made in 2017

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Alexander Kott, Kwong Choi, Brad Forch, Piotr Franaszczuk, Shashi Karna, 

Stephen Lee, Joseph Mait, Peter Reynolds, Brian Sadler, Ananthram Swami, 

and Bruce West

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14. ABSTRACT

This report, written by the members of the Strategic Projections Committee of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), is a 

“think piece”. Its intent is to offer the Army community the thoughts of ARL scientific and technology professional–level 

scientists on the likely breakthroughs in science and technology that may occur between now and 2050 and have the potential 

to be game changers for ground warfare in 2050 and beyond. This report will be followed by more reports of such nature, 

possibly on an annual basis. The subsequent reports might offer different projections or update those already discussed. In effect, 

it is a living document that is not intended to offer arguments or recommendations for programmatic investments or priorities. 

It touches on the following topics: artificial cells; algorithms that will enable creation of “seeing skins” for high resolution, 3-D 

imaging; IR sensors that would be dramatically smaller, cheaper, and more sensitive and multifunctional than what is available 

today; ways to measure, distribute, and exploit quantum entanglement; self-healing, self-protecting, and other such networks; 

brain-to-brain and brain-to-artificial-intelligence interfaces; integration of neuroscience and conventional computing; and 

Complexity Science that will enable new methods to anticipate and mitigate failures.

15. SUBJECT TERMS

technology forecasting, research strategy, Army technology, ground warfare, scientific breakthrough

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Alexander Kott

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Contents

List of Figures iv

1. Introduction 1

2. Artificial Cells 3

3. Computational Synthetic Aperture Imaging 6

4. Miniaturized Multi-functionalQuantum IR Sensors 10

5. Quantum Information Science 14

6. The Future Resilient Tactical Network 18

7. Intelligent Teams 22

8. Embedded Artificial Intelligence 25

9. Anticipating Failure in a Complex World 28

List of Symbols, Abbreviations, and Acronyms 33

Distribution List 35
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List of Figures

Fig. 1 This report discusses a selection (not prioritized) from the subspace of

potential S&T breakthroughs that may also have game-changing 

implications for ground warfare............................................................ 2
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1. Introduction

This report is written by the members of the Strategic Projections Committee of the

US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). The committee comprises all scientific and 

technology professional (ST)–level scientists of ARL—a total of 10 as of 2017—

and is chaired by the Chief Scientist of ARL.

The report should be seen as a “think piece”. Its intent is to offer the Army 

community the thoughts of ARL STs on the likely breakthroughs in science and 

technology (S&T) that may occur between now and 2050 and have the potential to

be game changers for ground warfare in 2050 and beyond.

We anticipate that this report will be followed by more reports of such nature, 

possibly on an annual basis. The subsequent reports might offer different

projections or update those already discussed. In effect, it is a living document.

It is also important to emphasize what this document is not.

It is not intended to offer arguments or recommendations for programmatic

investments or priorities. There are appropriate venues and processes for such

deliberations, and this is not one of them.

Furthermore, the potential breakthroughs described here are not intended to

constitute either an exhaustive list or even a list of most significant items. It is 

simply a selection—driven by interests, intuition, and expertise of individual STs—

from a broad space of possible breakthroughs.

Consider Fig. 1. There are many potential S&T breakthroughs that may occur

between now and 2050; these are depicted by the stars inside the left circle. Most

of them will not have a game-changing importance for ground warfare in 2050. 

There are also many potential game changers for ground warfare in 2050; these are

depicted by the stars inside the right circle. Most of them are not based on S&T

breakthroughs (some will be dependent on existing S&T,some on things not related 

to S&T). However, at the intersection of the 2 circles in Fig. 1 there are

breakthroughs with game-changing implications. That is also a potentially large set.

From that set we selected a few items to discuss in this report.
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Fig. 1 This report discusses a selection (not prioritized) from the subspace of potential S&T

breakthroughs that may also have game-changing implications for ground warfare

We do not assume that the United States has a monopoly on any of these S&T

breakthroughs or on the resulting game-changing military capabilities. We do not

project which country or countries will elect to pursue any of these research 

directions, or will be successful in such research and development (R&D) efforts, or

will prioritize the development of practical systems based on such breakthroughs. 

The decisions and outcomes of this nature depend on complex social, economic, 

political, and military factors that are far beyond the scope of this report.

The following is a summary of the report:

• Projected breakthroughs in creation of artificial cells will enable

on-demand, on-base production of high-value molecules, significantly

reducing the logistics tail and associated transport and storage costs.

• Projected breakthroughs in algorithms that combine images to produce a 

coherent aperture in near real time will enable creation of “seeing skins” for

high-resolution, 3-D imaging in the visible and IR bands over a large field 

of view.

• Projected breakthroughs at the intersection of artificial layered 

semiconductor materials, near-field electromagnetics (EM), and quantum 

optics will enable IR sensors that would be dramatically smaller, cheaper,

and more sensitive and multifunctional than what is available today.
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• Projected breakthroughs in ways to measure, distribute, and exploit

quantum entanglement will enable ultra-precise timing and time

distribution, improved sensing, faster information processing, and new

security in communications that are impossible by any other means.

• Expected breakthroughs in understanding and enabling self* (e.g., selfhealing, self-protecting, and the like) properties of networks, coupled with 

advances in adversarial machine learning and adversarial reasoning will

enable resilient reliable networking in an adversarial environment.

• Projected breakthrough in brain-to-brain and brain-to-artificial-intelligence 

(AI) interfaces will enable high-performance warfighting teams that

understand each other in complex operations, nearly instantly, without any 

verbal communications and even with little training.

• Projected breakthroughs in integration of neuroscience and conventional

computing into AI will lead to omnipresent, highly distributed machine

intelligence embedded within a multitude of physical objects surrounding

and teaming with the warfighters.

• Projected breakthroughs in Complexity Science, particularly in Fractional 

Calculus, will enable new methods to anticipate and mitigate failures in 

planning exceptionally complex operations like interventions in megacities.

2. Artificial Cells

Authors: Dr Stephen Lee (ST) and Dr Stephanie McElhinny

Bottom line up front (BLUF): Projected breakthroughs in the creation of artificial

cells will enable on-demand, on-base production of high-value molecules,

significantly reducing the logistics tail and associated transport and storage costs.

Artificial cells, nonliving structures that are compatible with biological cellular

machinery, will provide a robust, predictable, nonautonomous platform for the

execution of human-designed biological programs to realize novel capabilities for 

the ground warfare of 2050. These artificial cells will serve as nonbiological

reaction vessels that 1) sequester human-designed biological programs and the

molecules needed to execute these programs, 2) control the release of the products

of these programs to the exterior of the cells, 3) execute programs only when

triggered, with no spurious activity and high signal to noise, 4) can be stored

in an inactive state for extended periods of time with highly reliable “reboot”

when needed, and 5) are able to execute their programs over a wide range of

environmental conditions experienced during military operations.
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Over the past few years, researchers have demonstrated several complex

characteristics and functions akin to living cells in artificial systems. Various

approaches have been used to assemble artificial membranes to create artificial

cell-like structures comprising natural phospholipids, synthetic phospholipids, or

synthetic polymers. Simple human-designed biological programs have been

successfully executed within the interior of artificial cell structures. The transport

of materials into and out of artificial cells has been demonstrated, as well as

exchange of material between different species of artificial cells. Artificial cells

have also been designed that can internalize external material to replicate cellular

“feeding”. Other artificial cells were created with active elements of the

cytoskeleton encapsulated within that enabled the cells to change shape and move.

Recent work has also demonstrated an approach that enables artificial cells to

self-proliferate for multiple generations, akin to the replication and division of

living cells.

While these recent accomplishments demonstrate the impressive replication of

complex and dynamic functions of living cells, thus far each of these has been

demonstrated in one, or at most a few, discrete artificial cell systems. Over the next

25–30 years, just as continued advances in synthetic biology will expand the

complexity of engineered living systems, research focused on artificial cells will

build toward major breakthroughs that will integrate discrete artificial cell

functions into a coordinated artificial cell platform, enabling the vision outlined of

a robust, versatile on-site manufacturing capability.

Living cells are able to generate all of the energy required to produce the

molecules needed to sustain function. Because artificial cells are by definition

nonliving, a certain level of external intervention will be necessary to sustain the

activity of these artificial cells. Future research will identify those functions that

are amenable to internalization within the cells for autonomous activity and

those which must be externally controlled via engineered systems. For artificial

cells to serve as robust and predictable chassis for engineered biological programs,

they must remain as simple as possible but must also require minimal human

intervention to serve as a feasible option for an on-site manufacturing platform.

While the autonomous production and degradation of proteins and small

molecules within artificial cells will be optimized to minimize the extent of

external intervention, delivery systems will be designed to supply critical

molecules required for artificial cell function that are not autonomously produced,

and similar approaches may be necessary for the clearance of waste products to

prevent failure or collapse of the artificial cell platform. Engineered systems may

also be utilized to repeatedly regenerate the artificial cell population once the

production capacity of a current population is exhausted. The need to strike a
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balance between autonomous cell-like activities executed by the artificial cells and 

external engineered systems that support these autonomous artificial cell functions 

provides a unique paradigm where capabilities of the artificial cell platform will 

evolve with the continuous integration of independent advances in biology and 

engineering.

Research in this area will likely demonstrate and integrate several key

characteristics of living cells required for the successful execution of biological 

programs in an artificial cell, including the following:

1) Generation of a membrane-like structure that segregates internal

contents from the external environment and allows for controlled transport

into and out of the artificial cell but has increased stability relative to 

biological lipid bilayers

2) Optimization of protein translation and degradation systems within the 

artificial cell

3) Development of structures to control spatial organization of internal

components, similar to natural organelles within living cells, including

artificial structures designed to target specific reaction components to a

given structure and to organize these components in 3-D space for 

maximum reaction efficiency

4) Introduction of transport systems and methods to control transport both into

and out of the artificial cell as well as within the cell

5) Development of strategies to achieve spatiotemporal control of execution

of engineered biological programs within the artificial cell

6) Design of approaches to endow artificial cells with the ability to “ingest”

external material akin to cellular “feeding” via phagocytosis

With these breakthroughs, artificial cells will deliver remarkable new capabilities

by 2050 from which important pharmaceuticals, fuel sources, and even food can be

produced on demand in the field. The production of high-value biological and

nonbiological products in the field will also revolutionize additive manufacturing

beyond production of traditional structural materials. Artificial cells will

revolutionize logistics for the ground warfare of 2050 by enabling on-demand,

on-base production of high-value molecules, significantly reducing the logistics

tail and associated transport and storage costs. An artificial cell platform could be

programmed with the capacity to produce a large library of different

pharmaceutical molecules, with the specific program that is executed in a given

scenario triggered upon exposure to a blood sample from an infected
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warfighter. Biomarkers in the blood would trigger the production of the

appropriate medical countermeasure or treatment, significantly reducing the need

for cold chain storage in the field and providing a capability akin to a “pharmacy

on a chip”. Artificial cells could also be programmed to produce inorganic

materials that serve as precursors for additive manufacturing, supporting the vision

of self-sustaining field operations that no longer require transport of replacement

parts for engineered systems.

Further Reading

Brea RJ, Hardy MD, Devaraj NK. Towards self-assembled hybrid artificial cells:

novel bottom-up approaches to functional synthetic membranes. Chem Eur

J. 2015;21:12564–12570. doi: 10.1002/chem.201501229.

Cole CM, Brea RJ, Kim YH, Hardy MD, Yang J, Devaraj NK. Spontaneous

reconstitution of functional transmembrane proteins during bioorthogonal

phospholipid membrane synthesis. Angew Chem Int Ed. 2015;54(43):12738–

12742. doi: 10.1002/anie.201504339.

Keber FC, Loiseau E, Sanchez T, DeCamp SJ, Giomi L, Bowick MJ, Marchetti

MC, Dogic Z, Bausch AR. Topology and dynamics of active nematic vesicles.

Science. 2014;345(6201):1135–1139. doi: 10.1126/science.1254784.

Kurihara K, Okura Y, Matsuo M, Toyota T, Suzuki K, Sugawara T. A recursive

vesicle-based model protocell with a primitive model cell cycle. Nat Commun. 

2015;6:8352. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9352.

Xu C, Hu S, Chen X. Artificial cells: from basic science to applications. Materials 

Today. 2016;19. doi: 10.1016/j.mattod.2016.02.020.

3. Computational Synthetic Aperture Imaging

Author: Dr Joseph N Mait, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthroughs in algorithms that combine images to produce a

coherent aperture in near real time will enable creation of “seeing skins” for highresolution 3-D imaging in the visible and IR bands over a large field of view.

In 2050, advances in imaging science, optical technologies, detection, and signal

processing, as well as integration, will have enabled “seeing skins” that one can 

apply to building interiors, building exteriors, and to the exteriors of all mobile

platforms, both air and ground. “Seeing skins” will provide the military with 

increased capabilities in situational awareness such as high-resolution 3-D imaging 

in the visible and IR bands over a large field of view.
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If current trends in fabrication technology continue, it should be possible in the near

future to create monolithic arrays of cameras in a manner similar to the high-pixelcount detectors of today. Such camera arrays will be sufficiently thin that it should 

be possible to embed them into interior and exterior walls of buildings and on the

exterior of vehicles, both ground and air.

Although it is possible to derive information about a scene by combining images

from individual cameras in an array, so long as the cameras are incoherent to each

other there can be no increase in the information capacity of the system. To increase

information capacity requires that the camera apertures be coherent with one

another.

To understand this, consider 2 photons released with the same energy at the same

time from a single point in the scene. These 2 photons are detected by the 2 cameras

farthest apart in the array. If their outputs are combined on an intensity basis, the

output is an irradiance value given by the average irradiance of the 2 photons.

However, if the cameras are coherent, the irradiance output depends upon the

distance between the scene point and each camera and the distance between the

cameras. If there is zero output for a particular wavelength, we can deduce that the

distance from the cameras to the scene point differs by half a wavelength. If the

output istwice the irradiance of a single photon, the distances differ by wavelength.

If the camera array is coherent, by examining all possible combinationsit is possible

to localize the scene point.

Phase coherence is the foundation upon which synthetic aperture radar is built and

is possible due to the relative ease with which one can measure phase at radio

frequencies. To so requires a reference against which phase differences are

measured. Using a coherent reference is also the essence of holography and 

interferometry. It allows phase to be encoded in an intensity measurement.

However, what if using a coherent reference is not possible or undesired? For 

example, actively probing a scene with a light source could compromise a mission.

In such situations, advances in computational imaging have shown that a reference

may not be necessary. Instead, through signal processing, it is now possible to

estimate the phase of an intensity image using an iterative technique that exploits

the relationship between the image and its spatial frequency spectrum. If this 

technique is applied to individual cameras in a camera array and across the array,

one should be able to create a large coherent aperture. This improves optical 

performance, especially resolution. If one can do this over a single camera array, it

is also possible to combine coherent images from spatially separated camera arrays 

and, in so doing, provide multiple perspectives to create 3-D images with high

resolution.
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Although it is possible to create a camera with a single large aperture, for such a

system to produce a high-resolution image requires a volume given by the cube of 

the aperture diameter. The synthetic coherent combination of cameras in an array

should provide equivalent optical performance but in a greatly reduced volume.

However, the tradeoff is increased postdetection processing.

Currently, smartphone manufacturers are driving toward multiple cameras on a 

single platform. In the next 5 years one can expect arrays with a small number of

cameras (e.g., 1 × 4) on smartphones. Over several decades, one can expect array

sizes to increase. One can also expect array processing power to increase

concomitantly. Within 15–20 years, the technology should be available to realize

a moderately sized camera array (e.g., 8 × 8 or 16 × 16) with onboard processing in 

a package that is 1 cm thick. The missing element is the processing necessary to

combine the images to produce a coherent aperture in near real time. Effort is

required to generate the algorithms to do this.

The key to phase retrieval is developing constraints that reflect accurately the

physics that allow one to extract information embedded in an intensity 

measurement. Computational phase retrieval was developed nearly 40 years ago to

retrieve the phase from a single intensity measurement of an astronomical object.

However, researchers have recently used phase retrieval to improve the resolution

of microscopes. The technique, referred to as Fourier ptychography (ptycho from 

the Greek for folding), first retrieves the individual phases from a series of 

incoherent microscopic images. Retrieving the phase for each image enables them 

to be combined coherently via computation. The technique improves microscope

resolution several-fold beyond the classical resolution limit and underscores the

capacity for information extraction inherent in physics-based postdetection

computation. The results indicate the potential for applications in more-complex

environments.

However, such results are possible because the scenes contain a small number of 

point objects over a small range of distances. In contrast to microscopy,

intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications have virtually no control

over the imaging environment. Outdoor scenes consist of a large number of objects 

of various sizes, materials, and distances. Current active techniques for measuring

distances, for example light detection and ranging (Lidar), are already challenged.

We complicate this by replacing active means with passive and use processing to

generate phase estimates comparable to the active system.

Present phase retrieval constraints assume the measuring instrument has a finite

aperture, that real objects have a finite extent one can estimate, and that processed 

measurements retain their intensity character (i.e., they remain nonnegative and
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real). Extending phase retrieval to more-complex scenes requires modifying or 

adding constraints to account for a large number of points in a single plane and

ensuring phase estimates from different cameras are consistent with each other.

Given the short wavelength of light, extending the range over which one can 

estimate object phase is the most difficult challenge. However, applications such as

monitoring corridors in buildings provide an opportunity to develop and deploy

intermediate systems that use computational coherent combination over limited

distances.

If this capability can be demonstrated, it will also enable one to opportunistically 

combine different camera arrays within a region to form an adaptive imager with

no moving parts. The combination of integration and signal processing, in effect,

creates both a phased camera array and a phased array of camera arrays.

These techniques are amenable to imaging in the visible and in the IR portions of 

the spectrum. Thus, dual-waveband systems would provide operational 

commanders co-registered 3-D high-resolution spatial maps of the visual scene and 

the heat map.

Further Reading

Fienup JR. Reconstruction of an object from the modulus of its Fourier transform.

Opt Lett. 1978;3:27–29.

Fienup JR. Iterative method applied to image reconstruction and to computergenerated holograms. Optical Engineering. 1980;19:297–305.

Fienup JR. Reconstruction of a complex-valued object from the modulus of its

Fourier transform using a support constraint. J Opt Soc Am A. 1987;4:118–

123.

Tian L, Li X, Ramchandran K, Waller L. Multiplexed coded illumination for

Fourier ptychography with an LED array microscope. Biomed Opt Express.

2014;5:2376–2389.

Zheng G, Horstmeyer R, Yang C. Wide-field, high-resolution Fourier 

ptychographic microscopy. Nature Photonics. 2013;7:739–745.
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4. Miniaturized Multifunctional Quantum IR Sensors

Author: Dr Kwong-Kit Choi, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthroughs at the intersection of artificial layered

semiconductor materials (ALSMs), near-field electromagnetics (NFEM), and

quantum optics (QO) will enable IR sensors that would be dramatically smaller,

cheaper, and more sensitive and multifunctional than those available today.

IR detection serves many important military functions, as it detects light sent out 

by the target itself. It is often applied to large-area surveillance, autonomous

navigation, gunsights, missile intercept, chemical and biological detection,

situational awareness at night in a visually degraded environment, and the like. 

Ideally, an IR sensor is sensitive and fast, displays pictures in high resolution and 

in color, is inexpensive and readily available, and is lightweight and draws little 

power—in short, like current cell phone cameras. In addition, it should be 

multifunctional, providing such capabilities as multispectral and hyperspectral

imaging for target recognition and identification, polarization-sensitive imaging for

detecting manmade objects, Lidar imaging for ranging, and the like. The S&T that

enable the realization of miniaturized multifunctional quantum IR sensors will be 

crucial for ground warfare of 2050 in maintaining superior situational awareness on 

the battlefield.

The prerequisite S&T are ALSMs, NFEM, and QO. The advances in ALSMs will

produce IR materials that are of high quality, readily available, and low cost. They

are needed for ubiquitous application of these sensors. The advances in NFEM, on 

the other hand, will reduce dramatically the size, weight, power, and cost

(SWaP-C) of IR imaging systems with the benefits of advanced functionality,

allowing for their seamless integration and expansion into relevant warfighting

platforms. Ultimately, NFEM will bring single-photon sensitivity onto the 

battlefield to detect ultra-low-observable targets. Single-photon sensitivity

provides Soldiers not only superior vision, but also new capabilities. The advances 

in QO will enable the ground warfighters to exploit new phenomenology brought 

by the quantum nature of light. A quantum sensor with single-photon sensitivity is

going to provide higher temporal and spatial resolutions through entangled photons

and higher-order coherences. The QO methodology will be utilized to design these

sensors and their systems. Manipulating and detecting quantum states of light in the

IR regime will offer an ultimate advantage in situational awareness.

Different from the low-cost, readily available silicon material used in visible 

cameras, IR detection in the long wavelength is based on a more-exotic, scarce bulk
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material. This material is costly and difficult to produce in large quantities.

Recently, the Office of the Secretary of Defense funded a detector material

program, Vital Infrared Sensor Technology Acceleration. This program explored a 

new type of semiconductor material known as strained layer type-II superlattices.

1

This material gains its desirable optical properties by forming alternate atomic 

layers of 2 different semiconducting materials with which the material energy band 

structures can be fundamentally changed. The resulting material shows promising 

properties and can be produced in larger quantities. Further investigations into 

similar and other artificial layered materials may provide even better choices.

The size of a sensor chip determines the SWaP-C of an imaging unit. To maintain 

the same resolution of a chip while its size is reduced, individual pixels have to

shrink accordingly. Traditionally, IR sensors employ pixel size larger than 20 μm. 

It is much larger than the 1–2 μm used in cell phone cameras. This large difference 

is mainly due to the much longer absorption length in IR materials. It will usually 

take a 10-μm-thick material to absorb a significant amount of light. Manufacturing

process dictates that separation of the pixels be significantly larger than their

thickness, and thus the pixel pitch is much larger than 10 μm. To solve this

difficulty, one needs to invent optical structures that can enhance light–matter

interaction in a small volume. Recently, ARL invented a resonant structure that can

capture and trap incident light until it is absorbed.

2 With this structure, one can 

reduce the layer thickness by a factor of 10 to about 1 μm. As a result, effective 

detectors have been demonstrated down to 6-μm pixel pitch, and the 3-μm node is

currently being pursued.

3

Although a pixel of 6 μm can already reduce the unit SWaP-C by a factor of 10 or

more, it is still behind the visible camera. Further investigation into NFEM will be 

able close this gap. In addition, new electromagnetic (EM) structures will be able 

to create special functionality such as efficient hyperspectral imaging, polarizationsensitive imaging, and high-speed heterodyne imaging.

The incident light excites surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves4 inside ARL’s

resonant detectors, and therefore they exhibit much shorter wavelengths than the 

optical wavelengths in the material. For example, the mode volume of the SPPs is

only about 1 × 1 × 1 μm3 for the 10-μm incident light in free space. If the mode 

volume can be further compressed to 0.1 × 0.1 × 0.1 μm3 using certain EM

nanostructures such as photonic crystals,

5 nano-antennas,6 metamaterials,7 or the 

like, the intensity of single photons will be strong enough to place light–matter

interaction in the strong coupling regime. In this regime, cavity quantum

electrodynamics8 dominates and the corresponding sensor can acquire singlephoton sensitivity, a sensitivity that is several orders of magnitude higher than a 

classical sensor. Not only will this sensitivity provide Soldiers with far superior 
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12

vision, but a quantum sensor can also exploit the quantum nature of light to realize 

new capabilities, such as higher temporal and spatial resolutions using entangled 

photon pairs, squeezed light, higher-order coherences, photonic de Broglie wave,

or the like.

9 The study of QO will help the design of these sensors and their

utilization. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched 

a Quantum Sensors Program in the past to look into the possible advantages of 

quantum sensing. However, this and other studies have been concentrated in the 

visible and near-IR wavelengths. Future advances in QO in the long-wavelength 

IR are going to greatly enhance the sensing capability of ground warfighters.

Although near-field EM and QO have been pursued extensively in open literature

in the radio and visible spectra, respectively, the extension to the long-wavelength 

IR wavelengths has been scarce. Treating IR light as coherent EM waves on one 

hand and quantum particles on the other can utilize many of the RF and QO

concepts and methodologies in realizing IR detectors with unprecedented 

sensitivity and functionality.

Strained layer type-II superlattices1 and quantum-well IR photodetectors2 are 2

recent examples of ALSM that show certain advantages over conventional bulk

materials. The search for other layered materials and 2-D materials such as 

graphene10 is continuing. The design of complex EM structures shows good 

progress due to the improved numerical solutions to Maxwell’s equations using 

today’s more powerful computer hardware and software. ARL’s resonator-pixel

technology is one prime example. One can expect ingenious designs to be available

in near- and mid-term that can increase light–matter interaction in ever decreasing

optical volume. Significant SWaP-C reduction along with increasing sensitivity

and functionality will change how these sensing units being embedded, integrated,

and utilized in military systems. In the far term, when the sensing volume is 

sufficiently small such that cavity quantum electrodynamics operates, another

significant capability enhancement via QO will be realized.

There are alternatives in detector materials such as using alloyed materials rather

than layered materials. The layered materials, however, possess more structural 

parameters one can control to optimize their opto-electronic properties. The trend 

of smaller sensors is inevitable.

In summary, by 2050, miniaturized multifunctional quantum IR sensors will be 

possible as a result of breakthroughs in 3 technical areas: ALSMs, NFEM, and QO.

To achieve single-photon detection, which is the ultimate limit for sensor

sensitivity, each incoming photon will be confined in an extremely small space so

that its intensity is large enough to couple strongly to an absorbing medium. The 

medium itself will be in nanoscale.
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Suitable materials do not exist yet, but they will be made of ALSMs that are only

one or a few atoms thick, such as graphene and quantum wells. However, these 2 

examples have their own challenges and may not be the ultimate solution.

Nevertheless, based on the current trend of ALSM research, suitable material will 

be available in the next decade. After a suitable material is identified, one can then 

proceed to devise a physical mechanism to compress the natural optical mode

volume by orders of magnitude so that the electric field of each photon can drive 

the prerequisite quantum Rabi oscillations8 for single-photon detection. The

currently known EM approaches, such as using tightly bounded surface plasmons,

are not able to compress the optical mode to such a great extent. However, further 

research into different NFEM phenomena will be able to close this gap. After 

roadblocks in these 2 areas are resolved, single-IR-photon detection can be realized,

resulting in the most-sensitive IR detectors. However, extreme sensitivity might not 

be unanticipated and could be accounted for by an adversary. QO will bring a 

sensing capability that is unexpected by generating, detecting, and harnessing 

quantum states of light. Currently, there are no reliable, strong sources for different 

quantum states of light in the long-wavelength IR, and quantum IR sensors do not 

exist. In the coming decades, the research in QO will bring about such a light source 

and the corresponding sensor. A present candidate for the source/sensor pair is the 

quantum cascade laser11/quantum-well IR photodetector pair, but future advances 

will certainly produce better options.

References

1. Tidrow MZ. Type II strained layer superlattice: a potential future IR solution.

Inf Phys & Tech. 2009;52:322.

2. Choi KK, Jhabvala MD, Sun J, Jhabvala CA, Waczynski A, Olver K.

Resonator-quantum well infrared photodetectors. Appl Phys Lett.

2013;103:201113.

3. Choi KK, Sun JG, Olver KA, Fu RX, Parameter study of resonator-quantum 

well infrared photodetectors. IEEE J Quant Electr. 2007;53(5). 

4. Zayats AV, Smolyaninov II. Near-field photonics: surface plasmon polaritons

and localized surface plasmons. J Opt A: Pure Appl Opt. 2003;5:S16–S50.

5. Kalchmair S, Detz H, Cole GD, Andrews AM, Klang P, Nobile M, Gansch R, 

Ostermaier C, Schrenk W, Strasser G. Photonic crystal slab quantum well

infrared photodetector. Appl Phys Lett. 2011:98;011105.
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6. Chen YN, Todorov Y, Askenazi B, Vasanelli A, Biasiol G, Colombelli R,

Sirtori C. Antenna-coupled microcavities for enhanced infrared photodetection. Appl Phys Lett. 2014;104:031113.

7. Watts CM, Liu X, Padilla WJ. Metamaterial electromagnetic wave absorbers. 

Adv Mater. 2012;24:OP98.

8. Meystre P, Sargent M III. Elements of quantum optics. 4th ed. Berlin 

(Germany): Springer-Verlag; 2007.

9. Yamamoto Y, Imamoglu A. Mesocopic quantum optics. New York (NY):

Wiley & Sons; 1999.

10. Thongrattanasiri S, Koppens FHL, García de Abajo FJ. Complete optical 

absorption in periodically patterned graphene. Phy Rev Lett. 2012;108:047401.

11. Faist J. Quantum cascade lasers. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press; 2013.

5. Quantum Information Science

Author: Dr Peter Reynolds, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthroughs in ways to measure, distribute, and exploit

quantum entanglement will enable ultra-precise timing and time distribution, 

improved sensing, faster information processing, and new security in 

communications that are impossible by any other means.

Quantum Information Science is an emerging area of science at the intersection of 

quantum physics, computer science, information science, and engineering that

seeks to exploit the advantages that quantum physics provides over classical 

physics in all areas. It uses explicitly quantum properties of matter (such as the

wave nature of matter, the superposition principle, quantum statistics, and the

property Einstein dubbed as “spooky”—namely, entanglement) to break (classical) 

theoretical limits. That meansthings like breaking limits on measurement precision,

or computational power (computational complexity), or information density, or 

even what we mean by measurement (e.g., interaction-free measurement). 

Exploiting all these properties of quantum mechanics to make limit-breaking 

technologies in computing, sensing, communications, networking, imaging, and 

other areas are all expected outcomes. In all cases we have ideas of what can be

done but by no means the full picture of the possibilities. Even in those areas where

we know what can be done, in most cases we do not know how or the best way to

implement them. Only very limited parts of this arena are mature today.

Scientific Breakthroughs
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At the heart of this second quantum revolution is entanglement, a property of 

quantum mechanics that was largely ignored over its first half century; and when it

was not ignored it was disavowed by people as eminent as Einstein. Only quite

recently has entanglement been shown to be a real and an indispensable part of 

quantum mechanics and, moreover, a property with many significant consequences.

We know much about this property but much less about how to exploit it. For

example, we know that it enables even greater improvements for sensors (greater

sensitivity and precision), but we only have clues how to exploit it to do so. In 

particular, networking sensors coherently seems like a major opportunity to

improve sensing and to exploit nascent quantum networks, but we do not know how

to do this yet.

Likewise, we know that entanglement allows for various security protocols for

quantum communications. However, how to implement these protocols is not fully 

understood, and we do not even know the range of possible such protocols. In

information processing, we know that quantum coherence and entanglement enable

exponential speedups, but we have very few algorithms (though a few extremely

important ones) that demonstrate such a speedup. We are just breaking open this 

aspect of the field with foundational work that points at what can and cannot

achieve a “quantum advantage”. Seemingly different topics—different aspects of

Quantum Information Science (QIS)—all hinge on breakthroughs we see coming 

in the understanding and exploitation of entanglement.

Already we have sensors, improved through atom optics (quantum mechanical

wave behavior of atoms), that have been demonstrated at Technology Readiness 

Level (TRL) ~6. Even better sensors and the ability to distribute sensor (and time)

information coherently is coming through exploitation of entanglement. Currently, 

this is only at TRL ~1. Quantum computing is still in its infancy, with only few

qubits and relatively few operations possible within the coherence time. (This is

strongly dependent on the platform, however, and thus even questions about which

platform to use are still at the 6.1 level.) Quantum networks are ripe for study, as

they impact communications needs as well as the ability to coherently enhance

sensing and time distribution as well as distributed computation. As components

of QIS mature, they impact all the other components of QIS.

Potential Impact on Ground Warfare by 2050

The impact of QIS is clearly on all corners of Command, Control, Communications, 

Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Traditional limits on 

sensing, imaging, computing, communication, networking, simulation, and more

have all been shown to be enhanceable via exploitation of quantum mechanics. For 

example, in computation one can expect to get exponential speed-up for certain 
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important algorithms (such as those related to factoring, logistics, optimization, and 

to solving chemical and materials science problems) and can be exploited in 

breaking traditional forms of encryption. In imaging, not only can resolution be

enhanced beyond classical limits, but new concepts and forms of imaging become

possible. Some of these have no classical counterparts, such as interaction-free

measurement. In communications, new secret-sharing, authentication/verification, 

encryption protocols, and secure computing approaches are possible. In sensing, 

one can not only break classical limits on sensitivity, but also devise a “sensor” that

enables secure positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) in the absence of GPS in 

a single design, incorporating clock, gyro, accelerometer, and gravimeter (i.e., all 

components of an international measurement (IMU) into a single design based on

trapped ultra-cold atoms.

Why is QIS Crucial to Ground Warfare Capabilities?

PNT in GPS-denied environment is necessary because warfighters will be facing 

that situation well before 2050. Lack of an alternative to GPS will indeed be game

changing (in an unsatisfactory way). QIS is not the only way to achieve PNT in 

GPS-denied environments. But because all components of an IMU (accelerometer, 

gyro, gravitomers, and clock) can be enhanced through QIS, it is a particularly easy

way to envision achieving this while not giving up on (and in fact improving on) 

the precision of GPS. Moreover, even at the present level of maturity in QIS,

sufficiently good IMUs can be made this way to provide assured PNT without GPS.

It is just a matter of engineering them. Continuing basic research in QIS is leading 

to other ways to achieve each of the necessary components that will have still

greater sensitivity, could have improved fieldability and/or SWAP-C, or could 

increase functionality (such as coherently distributing time). In all cases (even with

the mostly mature atom optics approaches) there is no susceptibility to jamming, 

spoofing, and denial; no need for satellites or pseudolites; and no emissions that

could be used to target the user.

QIS can also achieve ultra-precise magnetometry. This can be used for detection of

tanks, submarines, and the like at one extreme, or at another extreme in battlefield 

medicine and in magnetoencephalography and other imaging. The required metrics 

are very different, and no longer is just the sensitivity relevant but many other things 

including the measurement volume (which must be very small for medical

applications while not small at all for finding a tank). QIS-based magnetometers

vary greatly in implementation (atomic vapors, nitrogen vacancy diamond color 

centers, Bose Einstein condensates, and more), with remarkably different physics 

and very different potential realms of application, yet all are QIS-enhanced

magnetometry.
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Security in communications is a key need now as well as in 2050. QIS can provide

provably unbreakable codes and protocols such as the ability to appropriately share

secret information with only authenticated individuals. These things are not

possible in any other way, since classical information can be readily copied, but by 

the “no cloning” theorem, quantum information cannot be.

Even now we need better ways to optimize all classes of problems from logistics to 

new materials design. These problems will only become more complex, more

difficult, and more pressing with fights in megacities and other complex domains.

Quantum approaches to these kinds of problems are very promising, from quantum 

annealing methods for optimization to quantum simulation for materials design. 

Conventional information processing is up against the wall of NP complexity, 

which these approaches get around.

What Has Been Done?

There has been 20+ years of research (and still going strong) on all fronts of QIS.

Small components of QIS, particularly on clocks and atom-optic-based sensing, 

have reached a level of maturity such that items are already being marketed by small

companies. Many other aspects are still completely nascent. Pieces of QIS are at

TRL levels ranging from 0 to 6–7. Already from all this we have gained much,

including fielded items such as the US Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) Master

Clock that drives the time used in GPS. We have learned algorithms for future

quantum computers that break encryption and protocols for quantum

communications that ensure secrecy. Many more algorithms and protocols need to

be discovered, and even the ones we have are useless without quantum computers 

and quantum networks to put them on. Steps along each of these paths have been

made (e.g., we are approaching 50 qubits, which may seem like very little but is in

fact major, as each step up was at one point questionable). Despite this, we are still 

a long way from practicality (think how many bytes we use in classical computing).

Pieces of the topic (laser cooling, for example) started in the 1970s. Quantum

computing per se began in the 1980s. There was essentially no interest until Shor's 

algorithm showed the power of it in 1994. An Army Research Office (ARO)/Army 

Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center workshop

the following year caused the creation of the ARO Quantum Computing (now QIS) 

program. This program was the basis for first DOD, then US, and subsequently

world-wide interest in the topic. The numbers of publications in QIS (and the

sub-areas of QIS) continue to climb quickly. Each sub-area has had many 

significant breakthroughs each year for more than a decade. Looking at the numbers

of breakthroughs, or alternatively the numbers of publications or almost any other

metric, QIS is growing ever more rapidly than it has in the past. It is growing
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exponentially and continuing to speed up as other countries begin to participate ever

more extensively. China has begun to invest extremely rapidly over the past 5 years

or so. Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) have invested far longer, but have

massively ramped up in the past 2–4 years, with the UK quantum hubs being one

example with each of 4 hubs focusing on a distinct quantum technology.

Further Reading

Deutsch D. Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal 

quantum computer. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A

Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 1985;18:97–117.

Feynman R. Simulating physics with computers. International Journal of 

Theoretical Physics. 1982;21(6–7):467–488.

Ladd TD, Jelezko F, Laflamme R, Nakamura Y, Monroe C, O’Brien JL. Quantum

computers. Nature. 2010;464:45–53.

Shor PW. Algorithms for quantum computation: discrete logarithms and factoring.

Proceedings of the 35th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer 

Science; 1994; Nov 20–22; Santa Fe, NM.

6. The Future Resilient Tactical Network

Author: Dr Ananthram Swami, ST

BLUF: Expected breakthroughs in understanding and enabling self* properties of

networks, coupled with advances in adversarial machine learning and adversarial

reasoning will enable resilient reliable networking in an adversarial environment.

Future military operations will involve teams of highly dispersed warfighters and

agents (robotic and software) operating in distributed, dynamic, complex, and 

cluttered environments. The Army tactical network of 2050 will likely be a 

coalition network. In a megacity environment, the network will be inundated with 

joint/coalition threat force and civilian (blue, red, and gray) sensors, radios,

precision shooters, robots, and networks of networks. Radio communications are,

hence, likely to be congested and contested; networks often will be disconnected, 

intermittent, and have low bandwidth (disconnected low bandwidth). The coalition 

force itself will be dynamic, and the network will face the usual resource

constraints: bandwidth, spectrum, power, and latency. In addition, extreme

dynamics and peer adversary threats will shorten response times, leading to

emphasis on quality of information metrics: precision, accuracy, stringent delivery

deadlines, and freshness of information, as well as severe constraints on 

low-probability of detection and low probability of intercept. Peer adversary threats
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will include cyberattacks, electronic warfare (EW)/jamming, node

compromise/loss, and the like. The future network will be largely ad hoc 

(“MANET”) but will make use of infrastructure, both blue and grey, when feasible. 

Advanced cyber software will enable access to local (gray) communication assets. 

Communication capabilities will be multi-radio and hybrid, encompassing

traditional and nontraditional RF as well as other modalities.

The tactical network supporting the future force will face unique challenges due to

its expeditionary nature and the expected engagement with peer adversaries.

Interconnectedness, interdependence, heterogeneity, expected high data rates, 

network size, and configuration parameter space size, coupled with

decentralization, result in complexity of network operations and understanding and 

create numerous opportunities for disruption (environmental, adversarial, or 

accidental). The complexity, high dynamics, and persistent transients expected in 

such a network will make reasoning difficult, particularly when response times

must be short. The tactical network of 2050 will be intuitive to use, self-organizing,

and self-healing, relieving the Soldier of the complexity of network management.

It will provide every Soldier with resilient and redundant connectivity on the move

and everywhere. It will ensure distributed data analytics so that the right

information is readily available.

Today’s tactical network is beset with multiple challenges. The tactical network is

vulnerable to EW and cyber threats. High-power RF emissions leave Soldiers

vulnerable to geolocation and hence jamming and other cyber/EW threats. The

available spectrum is increasingly limited and discontinuous, and usage is

inefficient largely due to reliance on single modality waveforms. The tactical

network is really a network of disparate networks; the daunting complexity makes 

it hard to secure and hard to operate.

But there are several precursors that lend credence to the 2050 operating picture

described earlier.

Expected breakthroughs in understanding and enabling autonomous self-healing,

self-protecting, and self-organizing capabilities will ensure continuity, security, 

and resiliency of the future tactical coalition network. A new DARPA Radio 

Frequency Machine Learning Systems program seeks to apply machine learning 

(ML) to design reconfigurable front ends and enable spectrum awareness. But,

going beyond, advances in ML are required to enable resource discovery,

characterization, and allocation. These breakthroughs will provide insights that will

enable advanced ML to autonomously infer and summarize network state at 

multiple scales; generate security policies; enable efficient solutions to hard

optimization/allocation problems (e.g., security monitoring, network,
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communication modality, channels, antenna selection/configuration, power, and

waveform); PHY-MAC-NET layer parameter (re)configuration for rapid and secure

anticipatory networking; and learning for topology control and reasoning about

information dissemination. Given the adversarial nature of the environment and the

distributed nature of the tactical network, ML solutions will be distributed, robust to

adversarial interference and deception, adaptive and on-line. Active learning may

be useful to limit overhead. There is a tremendous amount of work in academe and 

industry on general ML problems and on applications to communications problems,

with growing interest in adversarial ML (e.g., ARL Cyber Security Collaborative 

Research Alliance [CRA]). Breakthroughs are expected in obtaining fundamental

limits of learning in such an adversarial environment.

At the physical layer of the radio, there have been recent developments in exploring 

the RF spectrum beyond the conventional 1–10 GHz. These include terrahertz and

millimeter wave communication (MMWC) and free-space optical and UV

communication. Smart phones already have multiple radios (permitting seamless 

switching between WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular, for example), and multimode

single devices integrating RF and non-RF waveforms are emerging, which will lead 

to situation-adaptive multiwaveform networks by 2050. Emerging 6G and proposed 

7G standards will integrate 5G networks with satellite networks, and the Army will 

increasingly use cubesats and smallsats, which along with other communication

modalities will ensure “always-connected, everywhere-connected”. Directional

networking will be enabled by ongoing work in massive multiple input and multiple 

output (MIMO) and MMWC. Massive MIMO also enables distributed 

beamforming and EW and ensures privacy and security. Quantum communications 

will lead to novel protocols for encryption as well as authentication and verification. 

Quantum computing will enable distributed computation, leading to distributed 

allocation of network resources. Advances in quantum information sciences are 

likely beyond current quantum key distribution (e.g., quantum secure direct 

communications).

Ensuring seamless switching between different communications modalities 

presents multiple challenges, some of which are being addressed by the DARPA 

Collaborative Intelligent Network program/Spectrum Collaboration Challenge with

the goal of designing a system in which radio networks will autonomously 

collaborate to find and use scarce spectrum resources. Emerging advances in 

molecular communications will enable control of microbots to heal wounds in 

theater. Growing consumer interest and use of mobile multiplayer gaming, virtual 

reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) will drive advances at the networking layer. 

Group-to-group communication primitives will need to be developed, going 

beyond unicast and multicast. An emerging emphasis is on information flows rather 
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than packets, and this is crucial to the information sharing nature and needs of the 

future network. The structure of the network must co-evolve with the information 

it transports.

Commercial IoT is expanding rapidly in terms of size and heterogeneity of devices. 

Army IoTs will also include swarms of drones and robotic vehicles; these will pose

additional demands on network resources but would also help maintain network 

connectivity. This will be enabled by expected breakthroughs in distributed control 

in large heterogeneous and intermittently connected systems. Discovery and use of 

gray IoT and network assets will be crucial to get situational understanding. The 

newly established ARL Internet of Battlefield Things CRA will establish the 

theoretical foundations for understanding complex, tactical, cyber information 

systems of systems. Expected outcomes by 2030 (at TRL 2/3 levels) include 

techniques for scalable composition and management of Army IoTs and self-aware 

ML to enable adaption to dynamic missions and adversarial deception. Army IoTs 

will face big data challenges of volume, velocity, and veracity. Distributed analytics 

will be essential to process and fuse this data in real time and to detect and handle 

corrupted data/ misinformation. Blockchain and similar technologies will mature,

resulting in low-complexity algorithms to ascertain provenance of data and prevent 

tampering. Expected breakthroughs in hardware–software integration will lead to 

realizable fully homomorphic encryption and secure multiparty computation, thus 

enabling distributed analytics on a mixture of trusted and untrusted devices.

Software-defined networking is being deployed in the commercial arena due to

desirable properties of centralization of command and control as well as separation 

of data and control planes. A coalition network will likely be frequently 

disconnected (and often such disconnections may be critical to mission, perhaps to 

reduce EM signatures), and will likely have multiple distributed controllers. A 

paradigm shift that enables dynamic allocation of resources—not just 

communications, but also storage and computing—subject to policy and security 

constraints will be required. The US-UK Distributed Analytics and Information 

Sciences International Technology Alliance is exploring the notion of softwaredefined slices (composed of communications, storage, and computing resources), 

analytics as a distributed service, and generative policy to cope with these 

challenges. Expected outcomes by 2030 (at TRL 2/3 levels) include softwaredefined coalition networking algorithms, and distributed analytics in a 

heterogeneous setting. Such a generalized SDN approach also enables adaptive 

deception.

Further Reading
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CIO/G-6, US Department of the Army. Shaping the Army network: 2025–2040; 

2016 Mar.

Distributed Analytics and Information Science International Technology Alliance.

https://dais-ita.org/pub.

US Army Research Laboratory. The ARL IoBT CRA. https://www.arl.army

.mil/www/default.cfm?page=3050.

McDaniel P, Swami A. The Cyber Security Collaborative Research Alliance:

unifying detection, agility, and risk in mission-oriented cyber decision making. 

CSIAC Journal. 2016;5(1).

7. Intelligent Teams

Author: Dr Piotr Franaszczuk, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthrough in brain-to-brain and brain-to-AI interfaces will

enable high-performance warfighting teams that understand each other in complex 

operations, nearly instantly, without any verbal communications and even with 

little training.

The recent (approximately in the last 10 years) successful implementations of ML 

algorithms in applications to image recognition have driven rapid development of

autonomous systems. Similarly, the development of speech recognition systems 

radically changed the modes of communications between humans and machines. 

All of these developments were made possible by advances in artificial neural 

network algorithms, Convolutional Neural Networks, and, more recently,

Recurrent Neural Networks. These network architectures are based mostly on 

neuroscience research from the mid-20th century.

1 However, in the decades since 

then neuroscience made significant advances that only now are being incorporated 

into latest AI algorithms.

2

Also in the last decade there was a significant progressin brain–machine interfacing 

driven by needsin rehabilitation medicine. From cochlear implantsto robotic limbs 

controlled by brain and to gene editing, all these developments are poised to 

transform humanity.

3 Early experiments show the possibility of direct animal brainto-brain communication exchanging information in real time.

4 These and future 

enhancements in cognitive performance of humans will greatly enhance 

capabilities of bi-directional communication with AI-equipped devices and 

machines, creating emerging capabilities surpassing individual capabilities of 

machines and humans. Already there are some examples of benefits of teaming 

intelligent systems (algorithms) with humans to take advantage of different 
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capabilities of artificial and biological systems. One such well-known example is

centaur-chess.

5 A recent development in brain–computer interfaces shows

advantages from direct coupling of the human cortex with a computer through a

bi-directional neural interface.

6

In the near future these precursors will likely lead to significant breakthroughs in 

human–human and human–AI interactions. In particular we can expect 

breakthroughs in development of fast nonverbal direct communication of intent 

between humans and machines. Verbal communication using natural or even 

structured language is a significant bottleneck in efficiently performing operational 

tasks in extreme environments. Mistakes are caused by misunderstanding of the

true intent. For example the intention of speaker saying “Go outside!” may be to 

direct another person or robot to go outside from the room they are in (i.e., “outside 

of the room”), but the interlocutor may understand it as going “outside of the 

building”. In many situations there is no time to use longer sentences to clarify the 

intent, and in more-complex situations it is even impossible to precisely 

communicate the intent. However, if both speaker and recipient of this 

communication had the same mind reference created by extensive training, the 

misunderstanding may be avoided.

If the intent (i.e., what the person “had in mind”) could be recognized from brain 

patterns and transmitted directly to the recipient (human or machine), this could be 

achieved without extensive training. It could also lead to more-efficient delivery of 

information from artificial agents directly to the brain of human recipients without 

delay and possible errors in the process of perception through visual or auditory 

pathways. It can be extended not only to communication between 2 individuals but

also teams.

Currently, most efficient human teams achieve a level of communication where 

team members understand each other without misunderstandings only after 

extensive training and operational experience, which creates a common mental 

model. The ability to directly communicate intentions through brain–brain and 

brain–machine will allow for such team understanding “without words”, with much 

shorter training of both human as well as artificial members. We can expect that it 

can be realized in the future due to expected technological advances (both hardware 

and software) in reliable recognizing patterns in the human brain as well as making

AI algorithms more flexible and compatible with human perception and processing 

paradigms. Most advanced AI systems currently operate mostly in a reactive way,

learning the mapping from perceptual inputs to actions that maximize future value. 

In contrast, humans (and animals) can more flexibly select actions based on 

forecasts of long-term future outcomes using predictions generated from an internal 

model of the environment learned through experience.

2 Insights from neuroscience
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may provide guidance to AI that will make seamless team communication and 

performance possible without extensive training.

These advances in AI and brain–brain and brain–machine technologies will lead to

the possibility of creating intelligent teams taking advantage of unique capabilities

of enhanced humans as well as advanced AI-equipped machines and devices.

Such teams would be composed of human Soldiers and artificial autonomous agents 

both physical and virtual (in cyber space). Soldiers will be equipped with wearable 

and possibly implanted devices augmenting physical as well as cognitive functions. 

Every agent or device will be equipped with different levels of AI capable of

semi- or fully autonomous operation. Thanks to direct communication of intent as 

well as relying directly information through brain–brain and brain–machine

interactions, human and artificial team components will act like networked systems 

with connectivity level defined by task, situation, and state of each component. 

Such an intelligent team would be capable of seamlessly incorporating new 

members (human or agents) without extensive training, reconfiguring the team 

depending on changing situations, and interacting with a larger network of teams. 

Some of the information processing, both sensory from immediate environment of 

the team and information from external sources, can be preprocessed by AI agents,

either standalone AI or part of devices augmenting humans, and delivered directly 

to a human brain, allowing for faster decision making.

By direct-detecting human intent and communicating it nonverbally to artificial 

agents, the control of machines will be also faster and less prone to errors. However,

each member of the team, as well as each team within the network, will be capable 

of switching into a fully autonomous mode if communications are disrupted or 

compromised. Due to advancements in AI using an internal model of environment 

learned in a way similar to human team members, even in autonomous mode, all of 

the team members’ actions will be more predictable and with a higher level of 

coherence even with no communication.

These teams will have the ability to continuously adapt to changing battlefield 

situation in complex environments, including megacity and rural environments

with mixed adversarial, neutral, or friendly populations, due to ability to

consolidate and quickly coordinate individual experiences and capabilities through 

a common team mental model.

References and Further Reading
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1. McCulloch W, Pitts W. A logical calculus of ideas immanent in nervous

activity. Bull Math Biophys. 1943;5:115–133.

2. Hassabis D, Kumaran D, Summerfield C, Botvinick M. Neuroscience-inspired 

artificial intelligence. Neuron. 2017;95(2):245–258.

3. Futurism Home Page. Enhanced humans. https://futurism.com

/enhancedhumans/.

4. Pais-Veira M, Chiuffa G, Lebedev, M, Yadav A, Nicolelis MAL. Building an 

organic computing device with multiple interconnected brains. Scientific 

Reports. 2015;5:11869.

5. Cassidy M. Centaur chess brings out the best in humans and machines. 

https://www.bloomreach.com/en/resources/blogs/2014/12/centaur-chess

-brings-best-humans-machines.html.

6. Saproo S, Faller J, Shih, V. Cortically coupled computing: a new paradigm for 

synergistic human-machine interaction. Computer 2016;49(9):60–68.

Hassabis D. Deep thinking: where machine intelligence ends and human creativity 

begins. Nature. 2017;544(7561):413–414.

8. Embedded Artificial Intelligence

Author: Dr Brian M Sadler, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthroughs in integration of neuroscience and conventional 

computing into AI will lead to omnipresent, highly distributed machine intelligence 

embedded within a multitude of physical objects surrounding and teaming with the 

warfighters.

By the year 2050, AI and conventional computing will be integrated into all 

computing and processing devices. The breakthroughs may lead to omnipresent, 

highly distributed machine intelligence embedded within a multitude of physical 

objects that will enable warfighters to readily interact with physical and virtual 

agents, and these agents will be capable of autonomous action beyond the speed of 

human response. This will enable Soldiers to team with autonomous agents and 

dominate tactical environments, although Soldiers will be faced with adversaries 

with peer AI capability.

Broadly including ML techniques, deep learning (DL) architectures, and 

knowledge bases, AI has exploded into a variety of commercial applications since 

2010. Basic DL paradigms and artificial neural networks (ANNs) date to the 1980s, 

and 2 trends have enabled their recent emergence. First, digital processing 
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technology has continued its rapid advancement as predicted by Moore’s law, such 

that these algorithms can now be computed in reasonable time on laptop-quality 

processors. Second, it is now technically feasible to collect and use training data 

sets at the very large scale needed to ensure good statistical performance with bruteforce learning algorithms. Through trial and error, it has become apparent that the 

best AI performance could require millions of training examples. While it is 

time-consuming to collect such large validated data sets, digital hardware advances 

have made it possible to use them to train ANNs.

Embraced by large US commercial enterprises such as Google and Facebook, 

ANNs have been successfully applied in such areas as image processing and vision, 

natural language processing, robotics and multi-agent systems. They have 

displaced decades-old technologies in image and speech processing—problem 

domains with naturally occurring signals that defied traditional processing methods 

and were better matched to man-made signals such as communications and radar. 

ANNs are now better than humans on some kinds of visual object and word 

recognition as well as gaming. The use of ANNs has enabled driverless cars, whose 

development is now limited only by cost, legal regulation, and reliance on fixed 

infrastructure such as maps, roadside electronic aids, signs, road markings, and 

networking. While there are caveats with regard to robustness and resilience, it can 

be reasonably expected that intelligent control architectures will emerge with a very 

high degree of reliability and safety, significantly outperforming human drivers 

with respect to safety. Of course, this will not entirely eliminate fatal accidents, but 

their frequency will rapidly diminish as vehicle technology and infrastructure 

evolve.

For decades there has been a well-known boom-and-bust cycle for AI technology 

funding and development, sometimes referred to as periods of AI summer and 

winter. This is not surprising given the general public response to AI. We are 

simultaneously attracted and repelled by AI; we want smart machines and yet fear 

what this implies. Historically, human imagination of AI dramatically outperforms 

our ability to implement it, and the hills and valleys of AI progress are perceived to 

have very sharp gradients. And AI has a time-evolving definition, because 

understanding and implementation breeds acceptance and normalcy.

However, the boom-and-bust cycle will flatten out, because recent technology 

advances have been more practically significant compared with those of the past, 

which has led to a huge investment in applications and circuits. A new wave of 

computing devices is now emerging, evolving from graphical processing units that 

were designed for massively repetitive calculations, primarily consisting of matrixvector operations that must be repeated in parallel for game graphics updating. The 

success of DL warrants the large commercial investment in chip development 
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(100s of millions of dollars). This investment will, in turn, enable further 

experimental exploration of learning architectures proposed in the past 25 years and 

create a cycle of theory–experiment R&D. Hence, we can expect further progress 

without a major pause in momentum.

The result will be 1) a new suite of canonical processing algorithms that will 

become ubiquitous with general purpose computing, 2) special-purpose devices 

that will be embedded in virtually all consumer products that have computing 

electronics (e.g., cameras, phones, and appliances), and 3) embedding into virtually 

all control systems including mobile platforms (ground and air vehicles) and control 

networks (e.g., power grid and Internet). The result is AI-everywhere, a massivescale adoption of AI methods into the commercial infrastructure and products of all 

kinds.

AI will rapidly become embedded everywhere there are electronics

(i.e., everywhere). We are now seeing the first wave of devices, and this will 

accelerate because the trend is driven by consumer applications and mass 

distribution. Along with Moore’s Law has come a dramatic rise in the cost and 

complexity of designing and fabricating new integrated circuits, which 

paradoxically has resulted in a slow decline in the number of new commercially 

produced circuits every year. The large investment required to produce new devices 

requires a sufficiently large potential marketplace, so the circuit advances in AI are 

driven by mass market devices and applications that are to a very large extent 

commercial and not military.

AI and traditional computing will be integrated, just as digital signal processing has 

been integrated into circuits over the past few decades. AI will expand to include 

dynamical inputs such as video streams integrated into control architectures such 

as robotics and enabled to collaborate via integrated autonomous networking. This 

future wave of technology convergence will have dramatic implications beyond 

autonomy, robotics, decision aids, and other areas of current research. For example, 

current AI architectures may include one or a few DL elements, whereas when AI 

devices become omnipresent and embedded, hundreds to thousands of these may 

be combined into complex and dynamic architectures.

With AI globally embedded in all platforms and devices, new intelligent 

infrastructure will eventually be more locally independent, robust, and resilient to 

attack. Contrary to today’s centralized networks, such as the power grid, which are 

highly vulnerable and may be subject to widespread failures, intelligent 

infrastructure will have decentralized intelligence and local adaptivity. Even 

sources of energy will be dispersed, and adaptive micro-grids will be robust and 

resilient to large-scale disruption. This same phenomenon will occur with 
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communication networks, which will incorporate wired, directed wireless, 

omnidirectional wireless, and massive satellite systems, resulting in a highly 

redundant and resilient system. This is good news for national infrastructure 

development and protection.

The rich combination of global and local embedding of AI into sensors, robotics, 

networks, and processing will enable autonomous physical agents that team with 

Soldiers. These will establish self-healing wireless networks that dynamically 

defend and utilize infrastructure as available and operate in the cyber and physical 

domains simultaneously. Intelligent agents will be able to sense and secure areas 

before Soldiers physically enter the environment, including the ability to detect and 

map the presence of life, energy sources, and biological agents. Soldiers will also 

engage with agents to provide directed kinetics in rapid coordinated attacks as well 

as defend against such attacks.

Distributed collaborative intelligent systems will create a fundamental shift in 

future warfare, and will become a necessity for the future warfighter to maintain a 

tactical advantage.

Further Reading

Goodfellow I, Bengio Y, Courville A. Deep learning. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press;

2016.

Harris M, Dixon R, Melin N, Hendrex D, Russo R, Bailey M. Megacities and the

United States Army: preparing for a complex and uncertain future. Washington 

(DC): Chief of Staff of the Army, Strategic Studies Group; 2014 June.

Kotseruba I, Avella Gonzalez OJ, Tsotsos JK. A review of 40 years of cognitive

architecture research: focus on perception, attention, learning and applications; 

2016 Oct. arxiv.org, arXiv:1610.08602.

Piekarski B, Sadler BM, Young S, Nothwang W, Rao R. Research and vision for 

intelligent systems for 2025 and beyond. Small Wars Journal. 2016 Apr.

Sadler BM. Collaborative autonomy: a tactical offset strategy. Army Acquisition, 

Logistics, and Technology Magazine. 2017 Apr–June. p. 106–110.

9. Anticipating Failure in a Complex World

Author: Dr BJ West, ST

BLUF: Projected breakthroughs in Complexity Science (CS), particularly in 

Fractional Calculus (FC), will enable new methods to anticipate and mitigate 
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failures in planning exceptionally complex operations like interventions in 

megacities.

Just as error follows a law, failures follow a logic and ultimately so too do 

catastrophes. The implication of the existence of such a logic is that failing is not 

solely the result of happenstance but is often the foreseeable, even if unforeseen, 

consequence of decisions made and actions taken. A recurrent contributor to failure 

is the mistaken belief that the desired outcome of a complex process can be 

achieved by actions that follow a linear chain from one cause to the next—like 

falling dominoes. The linearity assumption that is typically made, even if 

unconsciously, regulates how we think about formulating ways to achieve a given 

outcome. However, we do not live in a linear world and, more often than not, taking 

a linear approach almost guarantees catastrophic failure.

Failure is an implicit feature of complexity: the more complex a system, the more 

ways it can fail, whether it is the financial collapse of the stock market or the actions 

of a military unit that results in mission failure or casualties. The greater a system’s 

complexity, the more important is the need to anticipate the various failure modes, 

bearing in mind that anticipating a failure mode is not the same as predicting its 

size or when and where it will occur. Therefore, along with the inevitability of 

failure comes uncertainty, and this too is a consequence of a system’s complexity. 

What we interpret as failure is a qualitative change or more formally an emergent 

property in a system’s complex dynamics. An unwanted property to be sure, but 

one that is unavoidable. The fact that it cannot be avoided does not mean that it can 

be predicted, at least not with the certainty of a deterministic process. Mathematics 

provides the cognitive tools necessary to systematically address questions that 

involve uncertainty, ambiguity, and paradox, often associated with failure. We are 

on the verge of a number of breakthroughs in CS, which require abandoning 

assumptions made in order to make classical analysis tractable. For example, the 

coupling across scales in dynamic systems described by renormalization group 

theory is on the verge of being replaced by the FC.

1 FC provides a formalism that 

enables one to incorporate the history of a process, as well as its nonlocality, into 

its dynamics, thereby being able to describe, for example, the nonperiodic dynamics 

of a spring that exceeds its elastic limit. Another is self-organized criticality in 

social phenomena necessary to explain consensus, or the transition of peaceful 

demonstrations into riots. These qualitative changes in dynamics also entail a 

different way to think about the underlying complexity.

If we cannot think systematically about a complex problem, we cannot solve it, and 

CS enhances the cognitive skills for solving problems critical to the military, a way 

of thinking made necessary by the demands of contemporary science to overcome 

the complexity barriers to understanding the modes of failure that are present in 
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virtually every aspect of life and within every scientific discipline. CS has found its 

way into the US Army doctrine, for example, in the Training and Doctrine 

Command document Win in a Complex World, and the relatively new concept of 

Net-Centric Warfare.2 The downside of these manifestations of CS within the Army 

entails the richness of nonlinear network dynamics, so that the scientific 

understanding of how phenomena fail must encompass both the qualitative and 

quantitative. To garner such understanding in a systematic way requires going 

beyond the traditional methods of modeling and simulation; that is, beyond using 

the classical analysis of analytic functions as the only ways of transforming data 

into information and subsequently into knowledge. Recent breakthroughs involve 

new methodologies within FC that generalize classical analytic functions to include 

the effects of memory and nonlocality by solving a fractional form of the SturmLiouville (SL) problem. We anticipate that just as solving the SL problem in the 

19th century led to foundational insights into electricity and magnetism, kinetic 

theory, ultimately quantum mechanics, and in fact provided the mathematical 

backbone of modern physics. So too, the solution to the fractional SL problem will 

provide the foundational science necessary for solving today’s multiscale problems 

of complexity in all the scientific disciplines crucial to the Army.

An alternative to the CS thinking is the misleading strategy of pushing natural 

variability from the central region of the probability density function (PDF), say 

from a Gauss distribution of potential outcomes out into the tails of the PDF. The

ubiquitous, low-level variability, to which the processes could adapt, disappear 

from the policymaker’s field of vision, making everything appear calm and trouble 

free. Consequently, when a fluctuation does appear, it is completely unexpected 

and devastating. The catastrophic consequence of such high-impact, lowprobability events, results from complex systems becoming extremely fragile when 

their natural volatility is artificially suppressed to achieve short-term stability. Such 

controlled systems may not exhibit any visible signs of impending catastrophe prior 

to its occurrence, and so the traditional methods of anticipating failure breaks down.

A complex system has unforeseen consequences that occur at some substantial 

interval of time after the initial response is observed. It takes time for the activity 

to work its way through the various dynamic modes of a complex system and 

generate multiple emergent effects produced by local and global cooperation. 

Unfortunately, the attention of most people wanders after the initial reaction is 

observed, and they are surprised when a secondary, or even tertiary, reverberation 

disrupts simple expectations. Such unforeseen, but foreseeable, reactions can be 

sufficient to generate failure, which on the battlefield is potentially fatal. Army 

training in situational awareness will promote and develop CS thinking on the part 

of the warfighter to reduce the number of failures resulting from unanticipated 
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outcomes or mistakes. A soon-to-be-published book3 discusses the details along 

with visionary changes in future Army doctrine.

CS thinking abandons the linear paradigm and takes into account the reality that on 

the battlefield no 2 situations are ever exactly the same. For example, a situation 

may look the same as one previously encountered, but which of the system’s many 

characteristic modes responds most strongly to a given stimulus changes from one 

encounter to the next? The change in response is a consequence of the many 

differences that were thought to be negligible or had gone unseen, which instead 

turn out to be crucial. Consequently, closely regulating the early response to a 

stimulus while it is still manageably small is crucial to understanding just how 

different the present situation is from what it was believed to be. Situational 

awareness is therefore not just seeing the “big picture”, which it most certainly 

does, but perhaps even more importantly it includes an awareness of how the 

battlefield responds to an individual’s actions and being keenly sensitive to any 

response that is new or at least unanticipated. The thing that is out of place, 

whatever does not belong on the physical or cyber battlespaces, is a warning of 

potential failure. Anything that is anomalous, which means it does not have an 

immediate explanation, is a signal to take cover, shut the system down, or at least 

to proceed with extra caution until the anomaly is understood and resolved.

3

A significant example of the application of CS thinking is in the changing doctrine 

for conducting warfare in megacities.

4 In 2030 megacities will account for 60% of 

the world’s population, 70% of the world’s gross domestic product, and the urban 

environment will be the point of convergence for the drivers of instability. The scale 

of megacities defies the military’s ability to apply historical methods of urban 

warfare, and consequently the Army’s doctrinal and operational approaches will be 

shaped to incorporate CS. In 2050 these 37 international urban epicenters will have 

evolved into a connected network of economic hubs that drive the global economy 

as predicted. In most megacities, fragility will be the norm and the US military 

doctrine for urban warfare will have been modified to account for the sensitivity of 

the unique failure modes of a given megacity. For example, the operational 

understanding of how the disruption of a single subnetwork, such as transportation 

or food delivery, affects a given megacity as a whole. The CS theory of failure will 

enable the prediction of the network responses to military interventions into a 

megacity operation that is under an internal or external attack or digging out from 

under a natural disaster.
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References 

1. West BJ. Fractional calculus view of complexity, tomorrow’s science. Boca

Raton (FL): CRC Press; 2016.

2. US Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). The US Army operating 

concept: win in a complex world, 2020–2040. Ft Monroe (VA): TRADOC; 

2014 Oct. 31. TRADOC Pamphlet No.: 525-3-1.

3. West BJ, Arney C. Nonsimplicity: the warrior’s way; 2017; under review.

4. Megacities and the United States Army: preparing for a complex and uncertain 

future. Arlington (VA): Chief of Staff of the Army, Strategic Studies Group, 

Megacities Concept Team; 2014 June.
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List of Symbols, Abbreviations, and Acronyms

3-D 3-dimensional

AI artificial intelligence

ALSMs artificial layered semiconductor materials

ANNs artificial neural networks

ARL US Army Research Laboratory

ARO Army Research Office

BLUF bottom line up front 

CRA ARL Cyber Security Collaborative Research Alliance

CS Complexity Science

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DL deep learning

DOD US Department of Defense

EM electromagnetic(s)

FC Fractional Calculus

IoT Internet of Things

IR infrared

Lidar light detection and ranging 

MIMO multiple input and multiple output

ML machine learning

MMWC millimeter wave communications

NFEM near-field electromagnetics

PDF probability density function

PNT positioning, navigation, and timing

QIS Quantum Information Science

QO quantum optics
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R&D research and development

S&T science and technology

SL Sturm-Liouville

SPP surface plasmon polariton

ST scientific and technology professional 

SWaP-C size, weight, power, and cost

TRL Technology Readiness Level

UK United Kingdom

UV ultraviolet
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1 DEFENSE TECHNICAL

(PDF) INFORMATION CTR

DTIC OCA

2 DIR ARL

(PDF) IMAL HRA 

RECORDS MGMT

RDRL DCL

TECH LIB

1 GOVT PRINTG OFC

(PDF) A MALHOTRA

1 ARL

(PDF) RDRL-D

A KOTT
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INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.