[1st-mile-nm] 5g likelihood

[Doug Orr]

Hey All,

It's been a little while since I scoffed at the likelihood of 5g being used
as part of an autonomous vehicle control plane, but I was inspired recently
by reviewing the current set of DARPA <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA>
research programs.

**Read the following just for fun. Nothing actionable follows**

So, first, you probably know DARPA is the contemporary name for ARPA, the
defense agency that brought us the Internet. They do advanced research and
development in strategic defense areas that are very technically
challenging (referred to as "DARPA hard
<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=DARPA%20hard>," in fact,
reflecting a level of ambition required for those competing to win various
DARPA projects).

Worth reviewing:

Here <https://www.darpa.mil/our-research>, is the set of current research
areas.

Here's <https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities?PP=0> a set
they're currently soliciting for.

Super smart people looking at the frontiers of the capabilities of the
industrial world and how to use it for military defense or advantage.
Really, as a citizen, you ought to have a look, since it's very
enlightening as to what we're afraid of and what we're pursuing in our
defense. Between social networking, biothreats, hypersonic vehicles,
defending against misuse of CRISPR genetic editing, and making it so that
soldiers can climb vertical walls without ropes...there's a lot of crazy
stuff there.

With respect to 5g and critical systems (e.g., cars), a few open research
areas apply, in my reading:

Wireless network defense
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/wireless-network-defense>
Ensuring that IC development chains can be trusted
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/trusted-integrated-circuits>
Challenges in millimeter and sub-mm wavelengths
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/thz-electronics> (you need higher sampling
rates to observe and control these frequencies)
Using AI to overcome frequency spectrum shortage from device overcrowding
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/spectrum-collaboration-challenge>
Alternatives to vulnerable GPS systems
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/spatial-temporal-and-orientation-information-in-contested-environments>
Side-channel attacks in software systems
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/space-time-analysis-for-cybersecurity>
Reducing vulnerability due to RF jamming attacks
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/signal-processing-at-rf>
Safely sharing spectrum by military with (other military or) commercial
users
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/shared-spectrum-access-for-radar-and-communications>
Making software resilient to reverse engineering attacks
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/safeware>
Creating distributed control planes not dependent on reliable, high
bandwidth environments
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/resilient-synchronized-planning-and-assessment-for-the-contested-environment>
Crazy shit you have to do if you lose some big chunk of the power grid
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/rapid-attack-detection-isolation-and-characterization-systems>
Generic "holy crap if someone cyberwarfares us we're in trouble"
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/plan-x>(presumably applies to critical
transportation systems)
Ability to fly without depending on lots of sensor infrastructure
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/multifunction-rf>
Operation of small area millimeter wave hotspots
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/mobile-hotspots>
Model for secure integration of critical systems with Cloud computing
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/mission-oriented-resilient-clouds>
Jammer-countering measures to enable communication in the face of
adversarial conditions in shared media.
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/hyper-wideband-enabled-rf-messaging>
Framework for countering botnets
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/harnessing-autonomy-for-countering-cyberadversary-systems>
Defense against modern DDoS
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/extreme-ddos-defense>
Defense against novel cross-network security violations
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/cyber-hunting-at-scale>
Issues with secure, resilient software updates in embedded systems
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/cyber-assured-systems-engineering>
Addressing the problem of securing composed heterogeneous systems
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/configuration-security>
Avoiding surveillance interference in wireless networks
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/computational-leverage-against-surveillance-systems>
Overcoming additive complexity issues when layering systems
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/complex-adaptive-system-composition-and-design-environment>
Defense against jamming in crowded spectrum conditions
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/communications-under-extreme-rf-spectrum-conditions>
Another take on communicating in contested spectrum conditions
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/communications-in-contested-environments>
Generic systems resistance to cyber attack
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/clean-slate-design-of-resilient-adaptive-secure-hosts>
Systems that aren't subject to resource limitation attack
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/building-resource-adaptive-software-systems>
Crazy radar interference shit
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/adaptive-radar-countermeasures>
Navigation in the event of jamming
<https://www.darpa.mil/program/adaptable-navigation-systems>

It's kind of a long list. It's unlikely that the mobile telcos have it all
figured out. So, I'm still skeptical that we ought to be relying on 5g for
our critical transportation systems in this half century given that *all of
these research areas, presumably, contain DARPA-hard problems*.

One of my former charges recently got a senior position with one of the
self driving software companies. He used to be in charge of keeping
Google's external network reliable. I'll get a reading from him as to
whether autonomous automobile software vendors believe 5g is as useful as a
core technology for self driving cars as...mobile network operators do.

  Doug
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