Wanted: A better system for intelligence collection

The research organization for U.S. intelligence agencies is looking to fund projects designed to yield revolutionary innovations in intelligence collection.

That organization, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), has asked industry and academia through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)  to propose research that dramatically improves the value of collected data. IARPA said it plans to give out multiple awards for the research and isn’t interested research for topics that are already being ongoing IARPA programs.

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The effort is being run by IARPA’s Office of Smart Collection. The office is one of three parts of IARPA that handles that organization’s high-risk, high-payoff research.

In the announcement, IARPA said it’s looking for research “to dramatically improve the value of collected data from all sources.” The organization is interested in:

• Innovative ways to identifying novel sources of new information
• New ways to assess collection systems for improved performance
• Sensor technologies that better the reach, sensitivity and power for collection of broad signal or signature types
• Tagging, tracking, and location techniques
• Electrically small antennas
• Agile architectures that distill useful information at the collection and
• Innovative ways to ensure the veracity of data collected from multiple sources.

IARPA said it will accept proposals until through September 30, 2011. The resources available for research depend on the quality of the proposals and the availability of funds, IARPA said.