Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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reduced communication requirements with a correspondingly lower prob-
ability of detection
Initially, this autonomy will be seen simply as an evolutionary extension of the
capabilities of current systems such as cruise missiles or UCAVs, providing
increased accuracy and range or other performance advantages. Over the longer
term, however, the dramatic increases in local information awareness and compu-
tational power will enable independent decision making and will have a dramatic
impact on the conduct of warfare. Systems may also be able to power, self-repair,
and reconfigure themselves to extend the scope of their missions. The lowered
cost and increased functionality will lead to swarms of intelligent agents with
emergent behavior that differs from that of any single entity. Integrating these
advances into the Air Force concept of operations (CONOPS) will be challenging
and will raise important global political and societal issues as well, such as the
acceptable bounds of future warfare—for example, specifying the roles of au-
tonomous decision-making machines in war fighting.
AIR FORCE MISSIONS AS DRIVERS FOR MICRO- AND
NANOTECHNOLOGIES
Micro- and nanotechnology's potential for reducing weight and size while
enhancing performance has particular relevance to the Air Force mission of de-
fending the United States through control and exploitation of air and space. The
benefits of significant miniaturization, reduced cost, and increasing performance,
if they can be achieved, would be particularly significant. The advance of infor-
mation technologies provides the clearest demonstration of this promise (one
place where it was especially influential is avionics). Emerging areas such as
MEMS and integrated sensor systems point the way to new opportunities. Minia-
turization of systems, combined with batch fabrication and integration of compo-
nents, may lead to significant improvements in affordability, enabling more
densely distributed systems. Further, improved performance of materials through
nanostructuring and other advances in nanoscience and technology could enable
systems opportunities of a more revolutionary nature, so that such advances merit
careful tracking by the Air Force.
Future opportunities of micro- and nanotechnologies are relevant to all six of
the core competencies in the Air Force strategic plan:
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aerospace superiority
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information superiority
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global attack
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precision engagement
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rapid global mobility
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agile combat support
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