Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- COMPUTING SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE SOL BAA96-07-2 DUE 032296 POC Dr. Robert Lucas, ARPA/ITO/, Fax (703)522-2668. COMPUTING SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE SOL BAA96-07 - PART 2 of 2 DUE March 22, 1996 POC Dr. Robert Lucas, ARPA/ITO, FAX: (703)522-2668. The ARPA Computing Systems & Software Division of the Information Technology Office supports research in scalable computing and advanced software technologies needed to enable the development, introduction, and effective use of advanced high-performance computing technologies in Defense-critical applications. Research in this area covers a broad range of computing systems technology issues from enabling design and microarchitectures to research into future generation computing system architectures and associated operating systems and programming environments that accelerate the transition of that research into both defense systems and commercial systems which are appropriate for defense purposes. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Research should result in prototype hardware and software demonstrating concepts and approaches. Specifically excluded is research which primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or hardware solution. This Computing Systems and Software BAA covers selected research topics from the High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program areas of Microsystems, Scalable Systems and Software, Systems Environments, Advanced Vision Systems (AVIS), and Embedded HPC. Topics for FY96 are selected to complement ongoing research in the High Performance Computing Program by significantly pushing the envelop of performance and addressing the most critical areas of research in design, architectures, and software that will accelerate the realization of a viable scalable computing technology base for Defense. Research is sought in seven technical areas. Areas 5 - 7 are contained in this Part 2 of the BAA. Areas 1 - 4 are set forth in Part 1. Areas 5 - 7 are as follows: 5) HIGH AVAILABILITY SYSTEMS. Large scale Defense computing systems often have significant demands in the area of system availability. However, te level of system availability currently provided is insufficient to satisfy the ever-increasing demands being made by applications. Embedded applications are often required to operate in hostile environments and/or for extended mission duration in addition to having system life times of 20-30 years. The High Availability Systems topic area will address two specific research areas: (A) hardware design verification and (B) fault tolerance techniques. Reliability modeling and failure prediction are also of interest and are implied in the relevant sections. Hardware design verification will seek dramatic improvement in verification technology to ensure complex integrated circuits are designed and manufactured without functional errors. Fault tolerance techniques will seek novel approaches to scalable fault tolerant design based on creating reliable systems from unreliable components. Reliability modeling and failure prediction will provide insight into the failure mechanisms of future integrated circuit components as well as complete systems in prolonged life applications. 6) CONFIGURABLE COMPUTING. The goal of this area is to develop configurable computing components and the enabling software to create systems that transparently optimize and adapt their architecture to specific, evolving applications and environmental constraints. Candidate architectural implementations include: FPGA-style architectures optimized for computation, with dramatically improved bandwidth, resource utilization, performance, and power, configurable logic incorporated in conventional microprocessors, one or more low-cost computational cores surrounded with configurable logic, configurable processor-in-memory, or entirely new configurable concepts. Key architectural issues include routing, granularity, memory integration, configuration management, I/O, fault-tolerance and security support, power, density, and maximum resource utilization. New models of computation are sought. Proposed software efforts should address tools and environments that support efficient compilation, configuration optimization and design re-use as well as dynamic runtime reconfiguration. Software should address the unique configurable computing challenges of simultaneous hardware architecture and software design while providing interfaces comparable to those for existing high-level languages. Software should also address instrumentation, debug,profile, and visualization. 7) FOUNDATIONS FOR ULTRASCALE COMPUTING. Defense computing requirements in the foreseeable future extend orders-of-magnitude beyond the performance capabilities that can be projected from contemporary scalable parallel processors. To meet these critical needs, ARPA is soliciting proposals for research and development in the domain of innovative computational models, methods, and mechanisms. The objective is to encourage a re-thinking of computing architectures, program synthesis, and execution environments suitable for deep sub-micron technologies as well as alternative underlying physical mechanisms including molecular, quantum mechanical and optical processes. In addition, ARPA is soliciting research in computational prototyping that will enable modeling and simulation of these new computing systems and their components before they are realized. PROGRAM SCOPE: Proposals for individual efforts should not exceed three years in length. Technologies which have a broad impact on military capability will be given highest priority. Initial contract awards are expected to be made during the second quarter of calendar 1996. Multiple awards are anticipated. Qualifying but unfunded proposals may be held for further consideration for FY97 funding. Collaborative efforts and teaming are encouraged where appropriate. GENERAL INFORMATION: In order to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review, proposers are strongly encouraged to submit brief proposal abstracts in advance of full proposals. An original and six (6) copies of the proposal abstract must be submitted to ARPA/ITO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, (ATTN: BAA 96-07) on or before 4:00 PM EST, January 22, 1996. Proposal abstracts received after this date may not be reviewed. After evaluation of the proposal abstracts, ARPA will provide offerors with an indication of the relevance and acceptability of the technical ideas proposed. Proposers must submit an original and six (6) copies of full proposals by 4:00 PM EST, March 22, 1996 in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain a pamphlet, BAA 96-07 Proposer Information, which provides further information on areas of interest, the submission, evaluation, funding processes, proposal abstract, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or mail request to the administrative contact address given blow, as well as at URL address http://www.ito.arpa.mil/Solicitation.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This notice, in conjunction with BAA 96-07- Part 1 and the pamphlet BAA 96-07 Proposer Information, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal which shall be considered by ARPA. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of this research for exclusive competition among these entities. Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a scientific review of each proposal using the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative importance: (1) overall scientific and technical merit, (2) potential contribution and relevance to ARPA mission, (3) offeror's capabilities and related experience, (4) plans and capability to accomplish technology transition, and (5) cost realism. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, must be directed to one of the administrative addresses below for receipt by 4:00 PM EST, March 15, 1996, e-mail or fax is preferred. ARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for correspondence regarding BAA 96-07. Proposals and proposal abstracts may not be submitted by fax, any so sent will be disregarded. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: (703)522-2668 Addressed to : ARPA/ITO, BAA 96-07, Electronic Mail: baa9607@arpa.mil, Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.ito.arpa.mil/Solicitations.html, Mail: ARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 96-07, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. (0341)

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