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Wheels:
DARPA amphibious design challenge could net you part of $4 million prize package

You can help design the next infantry fighting vehicle.

 

 

Have you got some killer expertise in designing and engineering drivetrain and mobility systems? Feel like designing cool new parts of a next-generation military ground vehicle? Do you excel in an open-source, collaborative environment and adapt easily to testing new design tools?

Well, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for you.

DARPA is calling on experienced design engineers and students alike to collaboratively design elements of a new amphibious infantry vehicle, the Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG).

Through a series of three independent prize-based design challenges, DARPA is trying a novel approach to the design and manufacture of the FANG. Each of the three planned challenges will focus on increasingly complex vehicle subsytems and eventually on the design of a full, heavy amphibious infantry fighting vehicle that conforms to the requirements of the Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). In the course of the design challenges, participants will test DARPA's META design tools and its VehicleFORGE collaboration environment, with the ultimate goal of demonstrating that the development timetable for a complex defense system can be compressed by a factor of five.

The FANG Challenges will run over the course of 18 months, beginning in early 2013, with a total of $4 million in prizes to be awarded. Innovators, including seasoned desingers and engineering hobbyists, students, and small businesses alike, are invited to form small teams and create revolutionary designs in each challenge.

Challenge One - The FANG Mobility/Drivetrain Challenge
(early 2013 through mid-2013)

• Objective: Design vehicle drivetrain to meet IFV speed, efficiency, terrain, reliability targets.
• Prize: $1 million.

Challenge Two - The FANG Chassis/Structural Challenge
(late 2013 through early 2014)

• Objective: Design chassis and armor to meet principal IFV-like survivability targets.
• Prize: $1 million.

Challenge Three - The FANG Full Vehicle Challenge
(mid-2014 through early 2015)

• Objective: Design a complete IFV based on core USMC objectives and distilled requirements.
• Prize: $2 million.

Competitors in the FANG Challenges will create their designs in the VehicleFORGE collaboration environment using the portfolio's META design tools and the Component, Context, and Manufacturing Model Libraries (C2M2L, or "camel"). VehicleFORGE has been developed to significantly change the design experience and open the window for innovation, allowing challenge participants to work collaboratively on their system designs.

Once CAD/STEP files like this have been added to a project's repository, a built-in visualizer allows users to explore the geometry in an intuitive and natural way.

 

 

The in-browser wireframe visualizer operates on any CAD/STEP file that has been added to a project's repository, and assists users in understanding the internal as well as external geometry of the part.

 

 

The Virtual Collaborative Design Environment allows multiple simultaneous users to explore different design options in real time. Here one user is pointing out to another user an alternate engine he'd like to try.

 

 

The FANG vehicle isn't being developed for the Marine Corps, but it will conform to the similar functional requirements of its ACV. The purpose of the FANG program is to test, at scale, new tools and processes that will allow the timetables associated with the development of complex defense systems to be compressed significantly. After the winning vehicle design is built in the foundry, the Marines will evaluate the FANG vehicle side-by-side with the ACV vehicle prototype that comes out of the traditional development process.

Registration is now open for the FANG Mobility/Drivetrain Challenge, the first of three planned FANG Challenges, which is set to kick off in January 2013. The winning team will be awarded a $1,000,000 cash prize and will have its design built in the iFAB Foundry.

The second FANG Challenge, which will focus on chassis and structural subsystems for survivability, is expected to take place in late 2013.

The third and final FANG Challenge, which should result in a full vehicle design, is anticipated for 2014. In addition to receiving a cash prize, the winning team in the third and final challenge could have its vehicle tested by the Marine Corps alongside ACV prototypes in operational testing.

For more information or to register for the first of DARPA's FANG Challenges, go to http://vehicleforge.org.

We also think that the Media FAQ is an excellent resource for potential participants. You can find the .pdf here.

Source: DARPA

Published October 2012

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