AFRL’s science and technology highlights in 2023

Happy New Year subscribers!

As we begin 2024, we’re looking back at AFRL's highlights in the last year in this edition of the Linked Into AFRL newsletter.?

This past year was brimming with groundbreaking technological advancements and scientific breakthroughs. Some of our exciting achievements include a milestone in robotic blacksmithing, testing equipment for NASA and demonstrating the first-ever artificial-intelligence-controlled flight.?

As we close the chapter on 2023, watch the video below for a glimpse into the lab’s defining moments of the year and keep scrolling for a more detailed timeline of events.

From the battlefield to the football field: Air Force surgeon’s skills know no bounds

Not long after the new year began, on Jan. 2, 2023, football fans across the country who were watching the Cincinnati Bengals game against the Buffalo Bills were in shock when Bills safety Damar Hamlin fell backward shortly after getting up from a tackle and laid motionless on the field.

Hamlin’s heart had stopped during the game and after on-field medical treatment didn’t revive him, he was rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. As fans waited with baited breath in the days to come, what they didn’t see on their television screens was active duty Air Force surgeon Lt. Col Valerie Sams relying on her experience and extensive training, and working alongside her UC Medical Center colleagues to deliver lifesaving care.?

Sams is part of a small group of Air Force medics that are fully integrated into UC Medical Center who also train Air Force medics attending the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS) program at Cincinnati. C-STARS is a training program offered through the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and is part of the AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing. As the program director, Sams works in intensive care units and prepares Air Force medics attending the advanced Critical Care Air Transport (CCAT) training.?

“Our partnership with UC Health provides us a unique opportunity to keep our CCAT training cadre clinically current and competent to ensure they can deliver specialized en route care when called upon,” said Sams. “UC Health has given us the privilege to host our simulations and training, be fully integrated into their staff, and be able to learn advanced critical and trauma care with our civilian counterparts.”

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Historic firsts: US Air Force selects Howard University for science research partnership

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) announced on Jan. 23, 2023, the selection of Howard University to lead a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). The new center is the Department of the Air Force’s first and is the first of 15 UARCs within the Department of Defense to be led by a Historically Black College or University.?

The UARC will be focused on tactical autonomy technology for military systems and Howard University will receive $12 million per year for five years to fund research, faculty and students.?

Howard is partnering with AFRL to align projects with DAF priorities and leading a consortium of other HBCUs to encourage collaboration and build depth for tactical autonomy research.

Read the full story.

A breakthrough in robotic blacksmithing

AFRL reached a major milestone in metamorphic manufacturing, or robotic blacksmithing, when an autonomous robotic incremental metal forming prototype was demonstrated successfully in Jan 2023.

The artificially intelligent system, nicknamed AI-FORGE, was funded primarily by the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and was made possible through partnership between AFRL researchers, The Ohio State University and industry partners CapSen Robotics and Yaskawa Motoman.

AI-FORGE uses incremental forming, a heat-assisted metalworking process used to manufacture small lots of customized manufactured parts for military aircraft, and is able to make significant forming decisions on its own without needing a human operator, offering near-term cost and time-saving benefits.?

This innovative solution to replace hard-to-find aircraft structural parts promises to improve aircraft readiness for the Air Force.?

Read the full story.

AFRL conducts swarm technology demonstration

In early April 2023, AFRL conducted a demonstration of its high-power microwave counter drone weapon, the Tactical High-power Operational Responder (THOR), as it engaged a swarm of multiple targets at the Chestnut Test Site, Kirtland Air Force Base.

“The THOR team flew numerous drones at the THOR system to simulate a real-world swarm attack,” said Adrian Lucero, THOR program manager at AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate. “THOR has never been tested against these types of drones before, but this did not stop the system from dropping the targets out of the sky with its non-kinetic, speed-of-light High-Power Microwave, or HPM pulses,” he said.

As the dangers from drone swarms evolve, leaders from across the Department of Defense are working closely to ensure AFRL is exploring different technologies like directed energy to support the needs of the warfighter in the future against such threats.?

While AFRL celebrates the success of the demonstration, leaders at Kirtland are recognizing the hard work of their team who have decades of research in high-power electromagnetic technologies.

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AFRL tests equipment for NASA’s Artemis II mission

AFRL and NASA worked together with industry partners, including Lockheed Martin, to test the most current iteration of an astronaut crew seat and flight suit that will be used in the Orion spacecraft during future missions to space.

AFRL researchers tested multiple landing scenarios using the lab’s Horizontal Impact Accelerator to gauge how the high-energy, low duration events inherent to the Orion spacecraft’s landings might affect the crew of the Artemis II mission.

“This horizontal accelerator is currently the only known facility of its kind that can conduct extensive biodynamic research on instrumented [anthropometric test device, or] ATDs and volunteer human subjects,” said Chris Perry, senior biomedical engineer, Biodynamics Section, 711th Human Performance Wing.?

The primary objectives were to test the structural integrity of the suit and its critical components, and to evaluate crew injury risk while suited and restrained in the Orion seat by using specialized anthropometric test devices also known as a crash test dummy, said Perry.

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AFRL welcomes new commander

AFRL welcomed a new commander, Brig. Gen. Scott A. Cain, during a change of command ceremony hosted by Air Force Materiel Commander Gen. Duke Richardson on June 5, 2023.?

During the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, who retired after 32 years of service, relinquished command to Cain and assured him that the lab was ready for his guidance and leadership.?

Cain, who came from a position as the director of Air, Space and Cyberspace Operations at Headquarters, Air Force Materiel Command, expressed his commitment as AFRL’s 13th commander to accelerate technological advancements to meet DAF priorities.

Read the full story.

Another first in flight: First-ever AI-controlled flight of XQ-58A

AFRL successfully demonstrated the first-ever artificial-intelligence-controlled flight of an XQ-58A Valkyrie uncrewed aircraft on July 25, 2023.

The flight, on the Eglin Test and Training Complex in Florida, was a culmination of two previous years of partnership that began with the Skyborg Vanguard program.

Algorithms developed by AFRL’s Autonomous Air Combat Operations team matured during millions of hours in high-fidelity simulation events, sorties on the X-62 VISTA, Hardware-in-the-Loop events with the XQ-58A and ground test operations to prepare for this significant milestone.

“AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we’re going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions,” said Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, AFRL commander. “AI, autonomous operations, and human-machine teaming continue to evolve at an unprecedented rate, and we need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia, and industry partners to keep pace.”

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A new era of space cybersecurity

When Hack-A-Sat, a first-of-its-kind satellite hacking challenge, began in 2020, it brought the best cybersecurity researchers in the world together to put our space systems to the test.?

The event, sponsored by AFRL and Space Systems Command, provided an opportunity to hack in an open, collaborative online environment with the goal of improving the security and resilience of space systems. Each year, Hack-A-Sat offered increasingly realistic space challenges, fostering a community of researchers interested in building better tools and gaining a better understanding of the space and cyber environment.

Hack-A-Sat 4 ushered in a new era of space cybersecurity in Aug 2023 by officially bringing the competition to space. Finalists competed in on-orbit challenges on the Moonlighter CubeSat, the only satellite actually designed to be hacked.

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New supercomputer accelerates processing

AFRL’s new supercomputer, named in honor of the Doolittle Raiders, was installed Sept. 11, 2023, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.?

Raider provides a marked improvement in processing power, with the ability to calculate about 12 petaFLOPS, or floating-point operations, per second. In comparison, the previous supercomputer, Thunder, installed in 2015, calculated only 3.1 petaFLOPS, or 3,126,240,000,000,000 floating point operations, per second.

Raider is a national resource as the Air Force, Army and Navy each have access to its supercomputing capabilities.

“We’re trying to position AFRL as the leader in high performance computing, supercomputing for the Air Force, and also for the DOD,” said Kelly Dalton, technical director at AFRL’s DOD Supercomputer Resource Center. “That’s why it’s important for the community.”

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AFRL’s RIPL revolutionizes communications for warfighters

AFRL showcased cutting-edge technology that connects warfighters at the edge during the Air and Space Force’s Air, Space and Cyber conference in Sept. 2023.

The Robust Information Provisioning Layer, or RIPL, is a cybersecurity tool that manages information across a network. It allows seamless and secure access to content for all network users, overcoming limited and intermittent connectivity in contested environments.?

“For the warfighter in the field, this means they won’t have to worry about what network they’re on,” said Brian Holmes, RIPL program manager from AFRL’s Information Directorate at Rome, New York. “If they need to get information from Point A to Point B, RIPL will take care of that. It allows different systems that don’t normally communicate with each other to pass information back and forth.”

RIPL satisfies the Operational Imperative for the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS, and Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2.

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1st international CRADA ignites strategic collaboration for space technologies

In a historic achievement, scientists from AFRL are leading the first non-domestic Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the U.S. Space Force and companies located outside the U.S. This signing marked the U.S. Space Force’s first international CRADA with any industry partner.?

The two Indian startups, 114AI, an artificial intelligence firm that builds dual-use software for domain awareness, and 3rd ITECH, India's sole image sensor company, will partner with AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate.?

The CRADA will foster collaborative efforts in cutting-edge technologies, marking a significant milestone in advancing innovation in Earth observation sensors and space domain awareness.

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AFOSR-funded researcher uses origami techniques to develop next-gen antennas

Stavros Georgakopoulos received a National Science Foundation Emerging Frontier in Research and Innovation (ERFI) grant, co-funded by AFRL’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), to further antenna research and study origami techniques.

Now, Georgakopoulos leads research at Florida International University’s (FIU) Transforming Antennas Center into new telecommunication technologies and the development of foldable, deployable, reconfigurable antenna systems. According to FIU, these systems are able to operate at higher frequencies, which allows for faster data speeds and larger bandwidth.?

Read the full story.

Join us in celebrating a year of triumphs as the lab continues our relentless pursuit of innovation in 2024. Let us know which topics you enjoyed learning about the most in the comments below.