RATIONAL CYPHY INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF221-0024
RATIONAL CYPHY INC — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.
Phase I SBIR feasibility signal
- Phase I awards fund proof-of-concept work. For capture teams, they mark early interest from Department of Defense in a technical approach.
- Watch for Phase II follow-ons from the same firm/topic family — that conversion path is where budgets and transition pressure rise.
- Obligated amount $149,961. Cross-check similar awards in the same agency and technology tags for going-rate context.
- Topic code AF221-0024 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.
- Amount
- $149,961
- Agency
- Department of Defense · Air Force
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- AF221-0024
- Solicitation
- 22.1
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- IL
- Period
- 2022-08-23 → 2023-05-31
Description
Runtime Assurance (RTA) is a technology for enabling rapid experimentation and prototyping of advanced control algorithms in safety-critical autonomous systems. The idea, is to keep a verified controller as a backup option, while an unverified experimental controller is tested, refined, and developed. Feasibility of RTA systems has been established in a number of recent experiments with aircraft engine control, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and multi-agent systems. The key challenge, as identified in the solicitation, is to develop the switching logic that avoids false alarms. That is, RTA system should not switch from the experimental to the verified controller, unnecessarily, as such switching limits the benefits of experimentation, and the potential performance benefits of the unverified controller. In this Phase 1 project, we will develop and evaluate a scalable, physics-aware software tool for generating the switching logic that resolves this issue.