SW New Mexico News

The New Mexico State University College of Engineering is a collaborating partner in a research team led by the University of Houston on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The grant, titled “Analysis Capabilities for Competition, Crisis, and Armed Conflict Combat,” or AC4, includes collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the University of Missouri, Columbia. This initiative aims to enhance the DOD’s decision-making capabilities to maintain a strategic edge in combat.

NMSU will undertake three distinct projects in this collaboration, spearheaded by Satyajayant “Jay” Misra, principal investigator and College of Engineering associate dean of research, and Huiping Cao, co-principal investigator and computer science professor.

“In this project, NMSU is leading cutting-edge cybersecurity and quantum research efforts to identify the opportunities and challenges with these new technologies for the DOD and help design resilient frameworks for using and evaluating them,” said Misra.

The first project focuses on bolstering computer network security through federated learning (FL), a machine learning technique that trains models in a distributed manner without sharing actual data. This approach has potential benefits for data privacy preservation and data security.

This project aims to develop robust strategies to ensure FL’s effectiveness in handling diverse data types and adapting to the dynamic nature of computer networks. This work builds on previous research by Cao and Misra, who have already developed a machine learning system to detect network attacks.

“Despite the success of machine learning techniques in many areas, the application of such techniques in building network intrusion detection systems is still at its infancy and has its unique challenges,” Cao said.

The new project will address limitations identified in earlier studies, such as processing imbalanced and streaming data, and enabling continuous network changes.

The second project aims to create resilient battlefield networks capable of operating under adverse conditions. This endeavor will integrate technologies such as 5G, 6G, and optical communication to facilitate rapid data sharing for swift decision-making.

Misra and Cao will investigate the interoperability of these technologies to maintain network robustness. Additionally, they will explore advanced security measures like “zero trust” frameworks which consider every network component as a potential threat until verified safe.

The third project explores quantum technology's potential in DOD applications. Quantum computing offers numerous opportunities for faster decision-making. The NMSU team will develop tools to assess different quantum technologies' effectiveness aiding the DOD's understanding for military use.

These projects are set to span three to five years. Upon completion, deliverables from NMSU are expected to provide valuable insights into practical applications for these technologies in defense contexts. The annual funding for this grant is $1.2 million per year.

“We are excited about this opportunity to carry forward NMSU’s partnership with the DOD to build the technologies of the future that will continue to maintain United States’ defense advantage,” Misra said.

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CUTLINE: Satyajayant “Jay” Misra (left) and Huiping Cao lead New Mexico State University's team working with University of Houston on a research project funded by U.S. Department of Defense.