Cloud Computing

In the civilian domain, cloud computing has demonstrated substantial benefits in development

and maintenance of software applications. To date, the cloud computing paradigm has not been

effectively exploited in embedded military applications, for reasons related to performance and

correctness constraints. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) is requesting information on techniques through which

the benefits of cloud computing can be obtained for embedded military systems.

PROBLEM DEFINITION

By "cloud computing" we mean the use of a pool of computing resources - interconnected

processors, memory, storage, input/output, and support software - to execute applications, when

the applications are minimally specific to the particular resources in use.

By "embedded military applications," we mean computing hardware and software that is part of

a larger system with a specific military purpose. Hence the computing clouds of interest are not

general purpose resources with which unknown users may execute unforeseen applications. Most

embedded applications are not connected to the Internet. Examples of embedded military

applications include command and control of a submarine, in-field data or information analysis,

and image data processing on board an unmanned aerial vehicle.

The anticipated benefits of using cloud computing in embedded military applications include:

 Cost efficiency: Recurring and non-recurring costs may be decreased.

 Manufacturing agility: The time to design, implement, and deploy embedded systems

may be reduced.

 Reliability: Use of pooled resources may remove single points of failure.

 Maintainability: System maintenance costs may be reduced since fewer unique systems

are maintained. Upgrading both hardware and software may be facilitated by the reduced

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dependencies among system components.

 Democratization: Since arcane optimization skills are less useful on cloud platforms,