The Air Force Research Laboratory conducted a demonstration for an Aerojet Rocketdyne-built rocket engine preburner designed under the Hydrocarbon Boost program. The HCB preburner can operate under austere conditions and siphons external energy to power engine systems, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.

AFRL equipped the preburner with super-nickel alloys and employed specialized methods to enable burn and high-strength resistance features. In addition, the laboratory utilized the preburner’s test unit to study fundamental technical gaps and comprehend technology trade space.

“The HCB preburner pushed the boundaries of these extreme conditions and redefined state-of-the-art for these challenging systems,” said Shawn Phillips, chief of rocket propulsion at AFRL’s aerospace systems directorate.

Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., are planning to collaborate with the Bipartisan Policy Center in the coming months to establish a national artificial intelligence strategy.

Hurd’s office said Thursday that he and Kelly intend to conduct meetings with public and private sector representatives as well as policy experts to help inform the development of the bipartisan strategy.

“If America loses its advantage in technology, it will have a devastating effect on our economy and national security,” said Hurd, a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient. “We need a national AI strategy to ensure the U.S. is prepared to lead on technology that will define the course of this century.”

Jason Grumet, president of BPC, added that Congress can help drive AI development while protecting rights to privacy, avoiding bias and “promoting economic and social inclusion” through the establishment of a national AI framework.

The move comes after Hurd and Kelly released a white paper detailing policy recommendations for AI implementation in September 2018.

Students, scholars and professors at the University of Florida have won a radio frequency-focused contest hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA said Thursday that it held the Spectrum Collaboration Challenge’s championship during an event at Mobile World Congress 2019 that took place Oct 22 to 24 in Los Angeles.

The contest sought technologies that use artificial intelligence to better leverage the radio frequency spectrum. The winning team, known as GatorWings, entered an autonomous radio that demonstrated navigation across wireless spectrum obstacles. GatorWings’ AI engine used reinforcement learning techniques to maximize use of available spectrum bits. The team won the contest’s grand prize of $2 million.

“GatorWings really stepped up their design in the final year, they previously finished fifth and sixth in the preliminary tournaments,” said Mr. Paul Tilghman, DARPA’s program manager for SC2. The competition demonstrated the ability of autonomous wireless networks to address limits of spectrum allotment.

Navy Secretary and a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient Richard Spencer said the service branch has a plan in place to improve efforts to help combat cyber threats and those facing the supply chain, Fifth Domain reported Thursday.

“If you look at Sun Tzu, what is one of his rules? Take over the enemy and keep all their assets in tact. That is cyber 101,” Spencer said Wednesday at the Brookings Institution. “I need every single resource I can – and that’s not dollars … it’s gray matter … to combat this.”

He also cited the potential role of the newly created position of special assistant to the secretary of the Navy and chief information officer. Aaron Weis, former senior adviser to the Pentagon’s CIO, assumed the dual-hatted role, which oversees four directorates responsible for the service’s cybersecurity and digital modernization efforts.