These problems have come from a wide variety of branches of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Additional problems may continue to be added - and problems posted here may experience minor changes - so check back regularly.
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Please note: The problem set below is subject to change. Please sign up for updates by entering your email address on the homepage to receive email updates.
Additional problems may continue to be added - and problems posted here may experience minor changes - so check back regularly.
Do you see a problem you like, but need to find team members? Fill out the team formation form.
Please note: The problem set below is subject to change. Please sign up for updates by entering your email address on the homepage to receive email updates.
Remotely Piloted Aircraft Communications in Denied Environments
Problems for 2019:
Updated March 15, 2019.
Problems for 2019:
Updated March 15, 2019.
- Maintaining Vessel Coverage (United States Coast Guard)
- Enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolutions on North Korea (Office of the Secretary of Defense)
- How did you do that? (Veteran's Health Administration)
- So Many Data Sources, So Little Time (US Marine Corps)
- Formal Training Unit (FTU) - Next: Changing the Future of Air Combat Command Training (US Air Force)
- Influence Through the Levels of War (UN Command Security Battalion)
- Is that video real or fake? (IQT, strategic investor for national security)
- Semi-Supervised Learning for Text Analytics Models (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
#1 Maintaining Vessel Coverage
BACKGROUND
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) along with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partners such as the California Air National Guard (CANG), are tasked with maintaining coverage of West Coast Maritime Vessels. For this reason, it is important that they are able to continuously track vessels along the California coast from San Luis Obispo County to the Mexican Border. DHS currently employs a system of ground based radars and cameras along the coastline, however, these ground based radar systems can survey only 10 – 15 miles in ideal weather conditions and have substantial gaps in coverage. There is a lack of Maritime Enforcement Aircraft operated by the Border Patrol Office of Air and Marine Operations (OAM) to provide sustained coverage of the maritime domain. Furthermore, OAM aircraft cannot always maintain covert surveillance due to fuel limitations when an illicit vessel is observed. The USCG in cooperation with CANG has successfully employed MQ-9 reaper remotely piloted aircraft in a proof of concept, however final approval for operational use has not been secured. In addition, the CANG lacks the aircraft and crews to consistently man the remotely piloted aircraft. The California Coast Surveillance Project, an endeavor of the US Border Patrol (USBP), is a series of mobile ground based radar systems using Artificial Intelligence aimed at interdicting illicit maritime vessels and filling the current radar coverage gaps. Current strategies lack sufficient air, radar, and surface coverage, allowing maritime traffickers to exploit such coverage by approaching US waters in close proximity to the shoreline or 50-250 nautical miles offshore. For this reason, the USCG seeks a low-cost way to track vessels and determine their intent in order to lead to more successful interdictions of drug cartels.
CHALLENGE
Coast Guard Operations Specialists need a way to track vessels in order to achieve more successful interdictions of drug cartels.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Coast Guard
BACKGROUND
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) along with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partners such as the California Air National Guard (CANG), are tasked with maintaining coverage of West Coast Maritime Vessels. For this reason, it is important that they are able to continuously track vessels along the California coast from San Luis Obispo County to the Mexican Border. DHS currently employs a system of ground based radars and cameras along the coastline, however, these ground based radar systems can survey only 10 – 15 miles in ideal weather conditions and have substantial gaps in coverage. There is a lack of Maritime Enforcement Aircraft operated by the Border Patrol Office of Air and Marine Operations (OAM) to provide sustained coverage of the maritime domain. Furthermore, OAM aircraft cannot always maintain covert surveillance due to fuel limitations when an illicit vessel is observed. The USCG in cooperation with CANG has successfully employed MQ-9 reaper remotely piloted aircraft in a proof of concept, however final approval for operational use has not been secured. In addition, the CANG lacks the aircraft and crews to consistently man the remotely piloted aircraft. The California Coast Surveillance Project, an endeavor of the US Border Patrol (USBP), is a series of mobile ground based radar systems using Artificial Intelligence aimed at interdicting illicit maritime vessels and filling the current radar coverage gaps. Current strategies lack sufficient air, radar, and surface coverage, allowing maritime traffickers to exploit such coverage by approaching US waters in close proximity to the shoreline or 50-250 nautical miles offshore. For this reason, the USCG seeks a low-cost way to track vessels and determine their intent in order to lead to more successful interdictions of drug cartels.
CHALLENGE
Coast Guard Operations Specialists need a way to track vessels in order to achieve more successful interdictions of drug cartels.
LIMITATIONS
- Must not complicate job of the Operations Specialist
- Must be low-cost
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Coast Guard
#2 Enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolutions on North Korea
BACKGROUND
Since the inception of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea’s nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly resolved to sanction the North Korean regime – including prohibitions on trade in goods and services. Despite global outcry, North Korea continues to flout these resolutions by taking advantage of loopholes in global shipping practices, confused jurisdiction, and limited enforcement capabilities in international waters. In many cases, North Korea is leveraging ships flagged from nations that are unable to even identify that their ships are being used for this purpose. Where nations lack the capability to enforce sanctions, private companies are being contracted to pursue this enforcement. These approaches raise serious questions about sovereignty, disposition of ships and personnel, and what responsibility is borne by the U.S. and other members of the Security Council.
As a result, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) needs to understand what authority and tools they can leverage in order to enforce resolutions from the United Nations Security Council.
If the Department of Defense was better enabled to enforce UN resolutions, the entire international community would have better leverage to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
CHALLENGE
Develop an approach for the Office of the Secretary of Defense to enforce United Nations Security Council international maritime resolutions in order to better compel an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)
BACKGROUND
Since the inception of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea’s nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly resolved to sanction the North Korean regime – including prohibitions on trade in goods and services. Despite global outcry, North Korea continues to flout these resolutions by taking advantage of loopholes in global shipping practices, confused jurisdiction, and limited enforcement capabilities in international waters. In many cases, North Korea is leveraging ships flagged from nations that are unable to even identify that their ships are being used for this purpose. Where nations lack the capability to enforce sanctions, private companies are being contracted to pursue this enforcement. These approaches raise serious questions about sovereignty, disposition of ships and personnel, and what responsibility is borne by the U.S. and other members of the Security Council.
As a result, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) needs to understand what authority and tools they can leverage in order to enforce resolutions from the United Nations Security Council.
If the Department of Defense was better enabled to enforce UN resolutions, the entire international community would have better leverage to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
CHALLENGE
Develop an approach for the Office of the Secretary of Defense to enforce United Nations Security Council international maritime resolutions in order to better compel an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
LIMITATIONS
- Proposed approaches should consider international law, law of the sea, and existing industry practices, while also keeping in mind sovereignty concerns.
- Should consider that not all countries have the same capacity or capability to pursue enforcement, even beyond their political will or sovereignty concerns.
- OSD must also coordinate with international and domestic partners such as the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, and Department of State.
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)
#3 How did you do that?
BACKGROUND
With 170 medical centers spread across the country and the complexities of distributing healthcare, it is difficult for each Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) to adhere to set standards of care. There are two approaches to meet standards of care: 1. Continuity of Care: The processes that generate outcomes are the same universally 2. Continuity of Results: There are variations in care process but the results are the same With such a large healthcare system, it is logical to use resources following the second approach of Continuity of Results. This means that VAMCs that successfully meet positive outcome standards continue practicing their methods, even if it is not the established protocol.
To assist struggling VAMCs, Veteran’s Affairs (VA) leadership works to implement best practices that have been mandated by VA senior leadership or proven to work at a similar site. In a large complicated system like the VA, implementing best practices is far from simple. This challenge is multi-tiered: identifying a problem exists, recognizing and quantifying a best practice, implementing it at a local level, and evaluating if this new best practice is appropriately rigorous to be pushed forward for national implementation. However, before best practices can be scaled nationally, the ability and criteria to identify what methods qualify as “best” is critical.
CHALLENGE
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Diffusion of Excellence Team needs to establish criteria to deem an existing or developed practice “best” in order to make data-driven decisions around implementation strategies for VAMCs.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Veteran's Health Administration
BACKGROUND
With 170 medical centers spread across the country and the complexities of distributing healthcare, it is difficult for each Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) to adhere to set standards of care. There are two approaches to meet standards of care: 1. Continuity of Care: The processes that generate outcomes are the same universally 2. Continuity of Results: There are variations in care process but the results are the same With such a large healthcare system, it is logical to use resources following the second approach of Continuity of Results. This means that VAMCs that successfully meet positive outcome standards continue practicing their methods, even if it is not the established protocol.
To assist struggling VAMCs, Veteran’s Affairs (VA) leadership works to implement best practices that have been mandated by VA senior leadership or proven to work at a similar site. In a large complicated system like the VA, implementing best practices is far from simple. This challenge is multi-tiered: identifying a problem exists, recognizing and quantifying a best practice, implementing it at a local level, and evaluating if this new best practice is appropriately rigorous to be pushed forward for national implementation. However, before best practices can be scaled nationally, the ability and criteria to identify what methods qualify as “best” is critical.
CHALLENGE
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Diffusion of Excellence Team needs to establish criteria to deem an existing or developed practice “best” in order to make data-driven decisions around implementation strategies for VAMCs.
LIMITATIONS
- Some data exists that tracks successes and failures on specific practices
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Veteran's Health Administration
#4 So many data sources, so little time
BACKGROUND
Marine Corps Maintenance Control Chiefs(MCCs)have the challenge of ensuring aircraft are at maximum readiness. There is a slew of maintenance that has to be regularly performed on state-of-the-art jets, helicopters, and planes in order to ensure they are both safe and combat effective. On top of planned maintenance, aircraft have unscheduled maintenance in response to issues that arise from use.
As MCCs prioritize and schedule aircraft maintenance, they aggregate multiple disparate sources of data that were designed in an “as needed”manner. Thus, none of these data sources are easily integrated, and it is the duty of the MCC to combine these datasources to create a common schedule. A significant amount of time is required to aggregate these data systems, and there are frequent changes as new data comes in from unscheduled maintenance. Furthermore, with manpower fluctuations, MCCs must determine the capacity of a maintenance department. By aggregating data sources to show overall demand for maintenance and real time manpower availability, MCCs would significantly increase readiness levels.
CHALLENGE
Maintenance control chiefs need tools to aggregate disparate data sources and manpower capacity in order to maximize readiness levels.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Marine Corps
BACKGROUND
Marine Corps Maintenance Control Chiefs(MCCs)have the challenge of ensuring aircraft are at maximum readiness. There is a slew of maintenance that has to be regularly performed on state-of-the-art jets, helicopters, and planes in order to ensure they are both safe and combat effective. On top of planned maintenance, aircraft have unscheduled maintenance in response to issues that arise from use.
As MCCs prioritize and schedule aircraft maintenance, they aggregate multiple disparate sources of data that were designed in an “as needed”manner. Thus, none of these data sources are easily integrated, and it is the duty of the MCC to combine these datasources to create a common schedule. A significant amount of time is required to aggregate these data systems, and there are frequent changes as new data comes in from unscheduled maintenance. Furthermore, with manpower fluctuations, MCCs must determine the capacity of a maintenance department. By aggregating data sources to show overall demand for maintenance and real time manpower availability, MCCs would significantly increase readiness levels.
CHALLENGE
Maintenance control chiefs need tools to aggregate disparate data sources and manpower capacity in order to maximize readiness levels.
LIMITATIONS
- Any tools of interfaces developed must not add to the workload of maintenance control chiefs
- Tools leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning could be useful solutions in tying together these disparate data sources
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Marine Corps
#5 Formal Training Unit (FTU) - Next: Changing the Future of Air Combat Command Training
BACKGROUND
The Air Force has trained its operators, from pilots to technician students, in the same manner for the last 40 years. Training is conducted in three stages: Phase I - Academics, Phase II - Simulation, and Phase III - Live Flight. Through the progression of these phases, students often lose a certain amount of their academic learnings and practical skills due to the length of time of, and between, each stage.
Though some attempts have been made to integrate new technologies into fighter education, there has not been broad or measurable impact on Combat Air Force (CAF) training. The Air Combat Command Training Support Squadron supports approximately 34 different weapon systems and 6000 students, offering over 50 different qualifications. In the short term, the Command hopes to reduce fighter student training time, while increasing proficiency and overall retention of material, with the ultimate goal of changing training techniques more broadly.
CHALLENGE
Combat Air Force (CAF) instructors need improved and expedited training procedures in order to reduce phase duration and information loss of trained student personnel.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Air Force
BACKGROUND
The Air Force has trained its operators, from pilots to technician students, in the same manner for the last 40 years. Training is conducted in three stages: Phase I - Academics, Phase II - Simulation, and Phase III - Live Flight. Through the progression of these phases, students often lose a certain amount of their academic learnings and practical skills due to the length of time of, and between, each stage.
Though some attempts have been made to integrate new technologies into fighter education, there has not been broad or measurable impact on Combat Air Force (CAF) training. The Air Combat Command Training Support Squadron supports approximately 34 different weapon systems and 6000 students, offering over 50 different qualifications. In the short term, the Command hopes to reduce fighter student training time, while increasing proficiency and overall retention of material, with the ultimate goal of changing training techniques more broadly.
CHALLENGE
Combat Air Force (CAF) instructors need improved and expedited training procedures in order to reduce phase duration and information loss of trained student personnel.
LIMITATIONS
- Some instruction material is classified
- Cost consideration in funding higher-tech solutions
- Initial focus will be mostly on U-2, E-3 LONG TERM GOAL Changing training techniques for all students
PROBLEM SPONSOR: U.S. Air Force
#6 Influence Through the Levels of War
BACKGROUND
United Nations Command Security Battalion–Joint Security Area (UNCSB-JSA) was established during the Korean War to provide security and logistical support to United Nations Command (UNC) elements involved in the ongoing armistice negotiations. The combined battalion (BN) crosses a language barrier and consists of approximately 80 US and 600 Republic of Korea (ROK) personnel. It serves as a key strategic messaging platform for the UNC Commander, secures and facilitates diplomatic engagement, and fosters communication with the Korean People’s Army (KPA), as the BN is the most forwarddeployed unit on the peninsula. As a result, the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Morrow and his staff at the JSA have a direct and immediate impact on the negotiations and agreements that occur on a daily basis between the UN/ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU)/ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND).
As such, it is important that all involved parties maintain the same level of awareness of the actions, conversations, movements and events surrounding the JSA. The most commonly used form of communication in the peninsula is KAKAO (a cell phone messaging system similar to WhatsApp), which is used for relaying timeline changes and communicating with US, ROK, and New Zealand Soldiers to coordinate weekly operations.
However, KAKAO has a few drawbacks. Firstly, KAKAO functions off of text messages and unlimited texting is not a common luxury in Korea. Secondly, KAKAO’s servers are based in China and its messages are not sufficiently encrypted to secure key information. Thirdly, KAKAO does not integrate with the US army or ROK systems. For example, if a ROK solder creates a document they want to send to the US army, the document must be saved to a disc, uploaded, and then reformatted. As a result, Lieutenant Colonel Morrow and his staff need a better system to maintain awareness of the actions, conversations, movements, and events between all of those involved with the JSA.
CHALLENGE
US soldiers based at the UNCSB-JSA need a secure, convenient and integrated way to communicate with all involved forces at the JSA in order to maintain awareness of the actions, conversations, movements, and events between all involved forces at the JSA.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: United Nations Command Security Battalion
BACKGROUND
United Nations Command Security Battalion–Joint Security Area (UNCSB-JSA) was established during the Korean War to provide security and logistical support to United Nations Command (UNC) elements involved in the ongoing armistice negotiations. The combined battalion (BN) crosses a language barrier and consists of approximately 80 US and 600 Republic of Korea (ROK) personnel. It serves as a key strategic messaging platform for the UNC Commander, secures and facilitates diplomatic engagement, and fosters communication with the Korean People’s Army (KPA), as the BN is the most forwarddeployed unit on the peninsula. As a result, the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Morrow and his staff at the JSA have a direct and immediate impact on the negotiations and agreements that occur on a daily basis between the UN/ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU)/ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND).
As such, it is important that all involved parties maintain the same level of awareness of the actions, conversations, movements and events surrounding the JSA. The most commonly used form of communication in the peninsula is KAKAO (a cell phone messaging system similar to WhatsApp), which is used for relaying timeline changes and communicating with US, ROK, and New Zealand Soldiers to coordinate weekly operations.
However, KAKAO has a few drawbacks. Firstly, KAKAO functions off of text messages and unlimited texting is not a common luxury in Korea. Secondly, KAKAO’s servers are based in China and its messages are not sufficiently encrypted to secure key information. Thirdly, KAKAO does not integrate with the US army or ROK systems. For example, if a ROK solder creates a document they want to send to the US army, the document must be saved to a disc, uploaded, and then reformatted. As a result, Lieutenant Colonel Morrow and his staff need a better system to maintain awareness of the actions, conversations, movements, and events between all of those involved with the JSA.
CHALLENGE
US soldiers based at the UNCSB-JSA need a secure, convenient and integrated way to communicate with all involved forces at the JSA in order to maintain awareness of the actions, conversations, movements, and events between all involved forces at the JSA.
LIMITATIONS
- This channel of communication must account for various levels of classification
- This channel of communication must be easily understandable by all of the forces located at the North and South Korean border (US forces, RoK, MOU, MND, KPA)
PROBLEM SPONSOR: United Nations Command Security Battalion
#7 Is that video real or fake?
BACKGROUND
The ability to manipulate video, sound, and images to create wholly realistic fake files, or “deep fakes,” is of significant concern to the Intelligence Community. Controversial videos on social media spread quickly and can lead to popular unrest.
Advances in artificial intelligence technology make it easy to create fake videos with fake audio.
The Intelligence Community and In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit strategic investor, is interested in exploring how emerging technology can be leveraged to detect a fake video. Ultimately, this would inform countermeasures and recommendations to quickly identify fake videos.
CHALLENGE
Analysts need to detect fake video content in order to determine its authenticity and credibility.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: IQT, strategic investor for national security
BACKGROUND
The ability to manipulate video, sound, and images to create wholly realistic fake files, or “deep fakes,” is of significant concern to the Intelligence Community. Controversial videos on social media spread quickly and can lead to popular unrest.
Advances in artificial intelligence technology make it easy to create fake videos with fake audio.
The Intelligence Community and In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit strategic investor, is interested in exploring how emerging technology can be leveraged to detect a fake video. Ultimately, this would inform countermeasures and recommendations to quickly identify fake videos.
CHALLENGE
Analysts need to detect fake video content in order to determine its authenticity and credibility.
LIMITATIONS
- Must be within existing legal and policy parameters
- Necessary to consider repeatability and provide confidence levels
PROBLEM SPONSOR: IQT, strategic investor for national security
#8 Semi-Supervised Learning for Text Analytics Models
BACKGROUND
Within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Augmenting Intelligence using Machines (AIM) Initiative iHub seeks to ease the existing labor requirements for natural language processing (NLP) data labeling. Modern deep learning-based NLP models require extensive labeled training data. This quickly becomes a hard and expensive problem because data labeling farms such as Amazon’s crowdsourcing marketplace, Mechanical Turk, are not an option in the Intelligence Community, as much of the data is classified. As a result, intelligence analysts are routinely pulled off mission tasks to support data labeling efforts, necessitating alternatives for labeling text.
Recent research in semi-supervised learning has shown that engineers can train NLP models with significantly fewer labels with similar precision and recall. For this reason, ODNI seeks to explore alternatives such as distant supervision labeling, one example being open source libraries.
CHALLENGE
The Augmenting Intelligence using Machines Program Staff needs recommendations for quickly labeling training sets for entity extraction and entity linking models.
Long Term Goal: The AIM iHub seeks algorithm implementations for semi-supervised data labeling.
LIMITATIONS
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Office of the Director of National Intelligence
BACKGROUND
Within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Augmenting Intelligence using Machines (AIM) Initiative iHub seeks to ease the existing labor requirements for natural language processing (NLP) data labeling. Modern deep learning-based NLP models require extensive labeled training data. This quickly becomes a hard and expensive problem because data labeling farms such as Amazon’s crowdsourcing marketplace, Mechanical Turk, are not an option in the Intelligence Community, as much of the data is classified. As a result, intelligence analysts are routinely pulled off mission tasks to support data labeling efforts, necessitating alternatives for labeling text.
Recent research in semi-supervised learning has shown that engineers can train NLP models with significantly fewer labels with similar precision and recall. For this reason, ODNI seeks to explore alternatives such as distant supervision labeling, one example being open source libraries.
CHALLENGE
The Augmenting Intelligence using Machines Program Staff needs recommendations for quickly labeling training sets for entity extraction and entity linking models.
Long Term Goal: The AIM iHub seeks algorithm implementations for semi-supervised data labeling.
LIMITATIONS
- Open source libraries like Snorkel (developed from Chris Re’s lab at Stanford) and spaCy are useful resources
- High likelihood that IARPA could provide training data sets
PROBLEM SPONSOR: Office of the Director of National Intelligence