DARPA Awards BAE to develop Tech to Detect Weapons of Mass Destruction

America's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) has contracted BAE Systems to develop advanced analytics technology to assist in the detection and deterrence of weapons of mass destruction.

"BAE Systems has received funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office to develop advanced analytics technology that will assist in the detection and deterrence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) activity, helping to ensure national security," the company said in a statement Wednesday.

The first-of-its-kind technology will leverage multiple data sources and uses data fusion, adversary modelling, pattern matching, and machine learning techniques to detect and identify indications of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) threat.

As part of DARPA's SIGMA+ program, the BAE Systems FAST Labs™ research and development team will work with partners Barnstorm Research and Washington State University to create a technology solution called MATCH (Multi-info Alerting of Threat CBRNE Hypotheses). MATCH will automatically populate a world graph using sensor and multi-source data to provide analysts visibility into threat activities in a metropolitan region. Using the graph, MATCH will create hypotheses that identify and characterize threatening CBRNE activity.

Phase 1 research on the SIGMA+ program leverages BAE Systems' expertise in data fusion, advanced analytics, and resource management as part of its autonomy technology portfolio. It also builds on a previous work for DARPA's Insight program and leverages the company's mature All-Source Track and Identity Fuser (ATIF) and Multi-INT Analytics for Pattern Learning and Exploitation (MAPLE)technologies. Work for the program will be completed at the company's facilities in Burlington, Massachusetts and Arlington, Virginia.