DARPA seeking new tools and techniques for Modeling, Analysis and Design of Complex, Adaptive and disaggregated Military and Civilian systems

DARPA in recent years has focused heavily on the need to disaggregate complex military systems and to evolve a portfolio of “system-of-systems” architectures to better manage national security applications and improve the survivability and mission success of military platforms. A core remaining challenge, however, has been the lack of sophisticated tools to model and systematically design complex systems of systems. DARPA’s Complex Adaptive System Composition And Design Environment (CASCADE) program is addressing this shortcoming by developing novel mathematical foundations that can provide a unified view of system behavior and, ultimately, a formal language and tool kit for complex adaptive-system composition and design.

Complex interconnected systems are increasingly becoming part of everyday life in both military and civilian environments. Complex adaptive systems are those systems which have the additional important property of being adaptive—i.e., the structure and behavior of the system changes over time in a way which tends to increase its success.