Lightweight Universal Codec (LUC) Proposers Day
Contract Overview
Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.
AI Contract Overview
DARPA's Lightweight Universal Codec (LUC) program seeks to develop a universal encoder-decoder capable of transmitting and receiving information using any existing or future error correction codes. Building upon DARPA’s prior Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND) research, the program aims to create a highly adaptive codec that can dynamically switch among a wide variety of error correction codes in real-time. The encoder will be designed to work closely with a GRAND-based decoder, using noise models and operational data to optimize code selection for improved communication performance in terms of link budget and mission-specific tasks. The LUC codec is intended for integration into diverse communication technologies to enhance efficiency, security, throughput, and interoperability, while enabling record-low power consumption for decoding and dynamically adaptive forward error correction. Success metrics include code universality, improvements in link budget attributable to the codec alone, and communication system performance within heterogeneous networks. The program will be conducted at an unclassified level to facilitate broad adoption of the technology in both commercial and military sectors. Participants are encouraged to choose communication systems for integration that showcase significant improvements enabled by the LUC codec.
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Full Description
Leveraging the groundbreaking work of DARPA’s Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (GRAND) study, the LUC program will aim to create an adaptive error correction codec capable of multiple on-the-fly changes to error correction codes. The program will seek to achieve this by developing an encoder capable of utilizing a highly diverse suite of error correcting codes that are easily updatable. The encoder is expected to pair with a GRAND-implementing decoder and the resulting codec will be designed such that the encoder incorporates the decoder’s GRAND noise model as well as other operating factors into its code selection process for link budget and task/mission optimization.
Integration of these codecs into various existing communication technologies would demonstrate improved efficiency, security, throughput, and interoperability achieved by record-setting low-power decoding and adaptive, dynamic forward error correction.
The LUC program will evaluate the success of these codecs and integrated systems by measuring elements of code universality, link budget improvement solely through the implementation of the codec, and the communication systems’ performance in heterogeneous network environments.
To maximize benefits of the LUC program and proliferation of its resulting technologies into both the commercial and military domains, DARPA will execute the program at the unclassified level with performers’ target implementations/integrations not to exceed Controlled Unclassified Information. Performers will be allowed to select their own target communication system(s) for integration and are expected to identify candidates that will demonstrate the greatest and/or most impactful improvement(s) through LUC implementation.