DARPA Trying To Build Software to Last A Century
Danang Setiawan/Shutterstock.com
The 4-year research project could draw upon concepts from the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is working on what sounds like an impossible task -- software that doesn't need to be updated or upgraded.
On Wednesday, the Defense Department Agency announced a four-year research project into software systems that could last more than 100 years by adapting to physical and digital changes.
Though military software systems are critical to national security, updates eat up time and money, according to DARPA. The new program, called "Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems," might require a completely new kind of computing, according to DARPA's request for proposals.
For instance, software may need to adapt to dynamic levels of resources such as memory, bandwidth, energy and processing power, the RFP notes. Effective adaptation could mean adjusting to rely on some resources instead of others, or eliminating certain functionality if another application does it more efficiently.
Inability to adapt "negatively impacts economic productivity, hampers the development of resilient and secure cyber-infrastructure," and also raises the risk of losing content as software becomes outdated, the RFP said.
(Image via Danang Setiawan/ Shutterstock.com)