DARPA wants Sensors to 'see' like mammals

Synopsis: DARPA is soliciting research proposals to revolutionize the underlying technologies for unmanned sensor systems. This effort seeks to emulate the mammalian visual pathway by implementing advanced models and algorithmic emulations of the entire visual pathway - from retina to the visual cortex.

Was just dinking around on DARPA's public site and found this solicitation.

Seems to me like they want to make something a little closer to 'real' eyes for their sensors. The request seems like something out of a movie.

I would think that current technology already far exceeds the normal mammalian ability to view things in different spectrums.

What do you think they are trying to do? There is a docx file available here that further details the solicitation.

Link to docx file

reply to post by KSPigpen


Fairly clear from the first few pages, they want a sensor system that can identify objects, and perhaps read near the same level or better than a human can.

reply to post by Lhuhikwdwoo


Yeah. Thanks. It's pretty clear what they are asking for. Why do they need sensors that can help systems make decisions?

Why would we want an autonomous system deciding whether we are a threat?

leading question, but one with a plausible answer. From the war planners view something like this is necessary given China's aggressive hacking program. At some point, hacking into drones becomes a real possibility, so making drones able to operate without a handler without making stupid decisions due to missing, or misidentifying something would be a priority. This would also give a huge boost to lock on systems, that can last time I checked, be fooled by radical change in profile of a target, such as chaff being dropped