The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) System-of-systems Technology Integration Tool Chain for Heterogeneous Electronic Systems (STITCHES) program has been developed to create networks via self-writing software to deliver broad support to the military services, FedScoop reported on Friday.
The program will work to solve critical battlefield networking challenges. The software will enable commanders to link data from disparate platforms, such as different weapons systems, to connect “every sensor and every shooter” under the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept.
“We are getting tremendous pull and demand for it,” Tim Grayson, director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA said. “The thing that has been the challenge with STITCHES is it’s weird… Anyone can develop their own STITCHES graph-based database but the current knowledge of the team which generated the existing database will be disbanded.”
STITCHES will build a military Internet of Things by linking data from operations and hardware in air, land, sea, space and cyberspace, then funnel that data to commanders and artificial intelligence-enabled machines for better decision making. STITCHES could provide that data link without strict data standards for endpoints by creating data links and interoperable networks.
DARPA said STITCHES was able to link different platforms that were built decades apart, allowing for interoperability and data sharing. The software is also entirely owned by the Department of Defense (DoD), without any commercial proprietary tech.
“The toolchain does not force a common interface standard; rather it rapidly creates the needed connections based on existing fielded capabilities obviating the need to upgrade in order to interoperate,” according to DARPA.
There is also no unit structure set up to effectively use the software, Grayson said. “STITCHES falls in the seams between the boundaries of existing systems and System Program Offices… The Department is moving in this direction, but currently the STITCHES end user does not fully exist,” Grayson said.
