Overview

The Security & Defense Systems Initiative (SDSI) focuses much of its basic, applied, and advanced technology development efforts on a set of “research thrust areas”, in which ASU has the needed subject matter expertise to be a research performer-of-choice at the national level.

These thrust areas were determined by mapping the technical specialties of our faculty and professional staff to identify where significant concentrations of expertise at ASU are aligned with priority research needs of government and industry in the security and defense sector.  That process defined the following seven broad thrust areas in which much of our research efforts are focused:

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  Resilient Cyber Systems

  Network, software, and data systems that provide cyber situational awareness and resilience to cyber attacks.

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  Advanced RF, Sensing, and Signal Processing

  Technologies enabling spectral mutability, enhanced sensing, and advanced signal processing

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  Autonomous Systems and Processes

  Technologies enabling trusted autonomous control and decision support systems.

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  Human Performance Augmentation & Training

  Direct performance enhancement methods and live, virtual, and constructive training.

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  Flexible Electronics and Systems

  Technologies that will enable conformable and/or deformable electronic systems.

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  Advanced Materials and Material Processing

  Material characterization and multi-scale simulation for 'materials-by design'.

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  Biosecurity

  Technologies for rapid detection, identification, and remediation of bio-agent threats.

Each of these research thrust areas has a sufficient number of faculty and professional staff members associated with it to create the needed critical mass of expertise for SDSI to be a superior research performer in that area. Together with our network of established working relationships, close partnerships, and existing connections to other universities and companies in these areas, we can rapidly assemble superior solution teams to address key challenges in these research thrust areas.