Thanks,
RESEARCH DIRECTIONS IN SMART SPACES AND INFORMATION
VISUALIZATION SOL RFI 98-04 DUE 02/25/98 POC Dr. Kevin L. Mills,
DARPA/ITO, FAX: (703) 522-7161.
In accordance with FAR 35.007(j), the Information Technology Office
(ITO), Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is issuing this exploratory
request for
ideas relating to research and development directions that would
significantly enhance the
current state-of-the-art in the area of information technology. Ideas
submitted should lead
towards revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art, rather than
evolutionary
improvement to the state of practice.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
This Commerce Business Daily notice, which constitutes the complete RFI
package, is
not a Request for Proposals (RFP), and is not to be construed as a
commitment by the
Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.
Responses will not be
considered as proposals nor will any award be made as a result of this
synopsis. The
Government is not interested in specific company capability information
and will not
entertain such submissions. Any costs incurred as a result of
responding to this
announcement shall be borne by the respondent and cannot be charged to
the Government
for reimbursement. All information contained in the RFI is preliminary,
as well as subject
to modification, and is in no way binding on the Government. As a
result of ideas
submitted in response to this RFI, DARPA will acknowledge receipt of
the submission,
but will not provide feedback. However, DARPA/ITO might invite selected
individuals
to present talks, might plan and conduct invited workshops on relevant
topics, etc. NO
PROPRIETARY DATA SHOULD BE SUBMITTED. ANY SUBMISSIONS WILL BE
CONSIDERED TO BE PUBLIC INFORMATION AND MAY BE HANDLED BY NON-
GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL. This RFI incorporates by reference FAR 52.215-3,
93Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (OCT =
1997),94 with the
same force and effect as if it were given in full text (reference
paragraph (c) of this
provision, the 93purpose=94 of this RFI is detailed in this =
announcement). The following are
three related topics concerning information spaces about which
DARPA/ITO seeks ideas.
While each of these topics stands alone, some might also be considered
together; for
example, ideas in information visualization might be applied to
navigating and
understanding smart spaces. In addition, advanced ideas on other topics
related to those
described below might be of interest to ITO. For all topics, DARPA is
especially
interested in responses that: 1. Identify new directions, i.e.,
envision ways of using
information technology that could not be realized with the existing
technology base; 2.
Identify visionary applications that could motivate a coordinated
effort by the research
community to develop convincing demonstrations of the new capability;
and 3. Identify
significant obstacles and provide plausible approaches to overcoming
them.
I. SMART SPACES: Due to advances in wireless technology and mobile
computing, users will soon be able to roam in a variety of
geographically distributed
environments, while maintaining seamless connectivity. In addition, the
falling price of
computing power will enable an increasing number of common objects to
possess an
intelligence heretofore reserved for general-purpose computers. This
confluence of trends
presents an opportunity to explore innovative ways of connecting mobile
users and
computers with intelligent objects embedded within smart spaces. Such
smart spaces
might consist of stationary cells, such as offices and conference
rooms, and of mobile
cells, such as vehicles. Ideas are sought for enabling intelligent
objects in smart spaces to
be exploited by mobile computing devices carried by users and for
enabling mobile and
stationary smart spaces to interact among themselves. Problems of
possible interest
include: augmenting intelligent objects to make them
network-accessible; creating
discovery mechanisms that enable mobile devices to discover intelligent
objects within
smart spaces; translating between device control interfaces and
exported interfaces of
intelligent objects; and composing intelligent objects into complex
subsystems.
II. INFORMATION VISUALIZATION: An increasing number of automated
processes produce voluminous data that cannot be represented directly
and
straightforwardly using conventional 3-D graphics. Such processes
include military
planning and campaign conduct, execution of complex computer systems,
the population
of world-wide web information spaces, and the accumulation of military
intelligence data.
Domain-independent techniques and approaches are sought for visualizing
such abstract
information.
III. VISUAL INTERACTION: Recent advances in immersed visualization and
gestural input, coupled with algorithms for analyzing image, video, and
audio inputs,
suggest the possibility of new, and more effective, paradigms for
interaction between
users and the simulated and real worlds contained within or accessible
through computer
systems. Ideas are sought regarding new approaches to connecting
visualizations with the
information or physical system being visualized, in order to interact
with the underlying
information or system through the visualization. In the case of
physical systems with
actuators, new approaches are sought to allow a user to control the
physical system
through interaction with its visual metaphor.
SUBMISSION FORMAT:
Responses should be 2-4 pages in length (not counting the cover page).
An original
and six (6) copies of the RFI response should be submitted to:
DARPA/ITO, ATTN:
RFI 98-04, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714.
Alternatively,
responses may be sent via electronic mail to rfi98-04@darpa.mil in
plain ASCII or as a
Postscript attachment. Electronic submission is strongly recommended.
ASCII will be
printed 72 characters to the line, 60 lines to the page. Postscript
attachments should use
12 point Times New Roman font. Submissions should have the nature of an
extended
abstract. Each response should develop a single "idea" and should
comprise
the following sections:
Section I. Cover Page:
Each submission should clearly identify the following information on a
cover sheet or as
prefix text to e-mail submissions:
Line 1: Title,
Line 2: Topic area covered in the submission,
Line 3: Name(s) of submitter(s),
Line 4: Telephone number,
Line 5: E-mail address,
Line 6: Institution, company, or organization, and
Lines 7-10: Mailing address for response.
Section II. Details of Submitted Idea:
(1) Innovative Capability Envisioned -- Describe the nature of an
innovative advance that
might be achieved with respect to the topic to which you are
responding. Where possible,
quantify the new capability that could be realized.
(2) Possible Applications and Benefits -- Cite specific examples of
potential
demonstration applications that could be used to inspire a broad-based
research effort.
(3a) Major Technical Obstacles -- Describe specific technical obstacles
that must be
surpassed in order to achieve the envisioned advance.
(3b) Plausible Approaches -- Describe technical approaches that could
be explored to
overcome the major technical obstacles.
Section III. Additional Information:
In addition to the required 2-4 page submission, respondents are
encouraged to attach a
brief list of key citations, including URLs if available. Respondents
are also permitted to
include a relevant paper. For this, electronic submissions may use
either a URL or a
postscript file. Submissions will be considered as submitted if they
are received at
DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET), Wednesday, February 25, 1998.
All administrative correspondence and questions concerning this
announcement
may be directed to one of the following administrative addresses:
Fax: 703-522-7161 Addressed to DARPA/ITO, RFI 98-04
Electronic Mail: rfi98-04@darpa.mil
Electronic File Retrieval:
http://www.ito.darpa.mil/Solicitations.html
Mail: DARPA/ITO
ATTN: RFI98-04
3701 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203-1714. (0357)
SPONSOR: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Contracts
Management Office (CMO), 3701 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA
22203-1714
SUBFILE: PSE (U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS, SERVICES)
SECTION HEADING: A Research and Development
PUBLICATION DATE: DECEMBER 29, 1997
ISSUE: PSA-2000
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