WASHINGTON. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded six contracts for work on the Angler program, which aims to pioneer the next generation of autonomous underwater robotic systems capable of physical intervention in the deep ocean environment. This class of future unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) must overcome reliance on GPS and human intervention to support infrastructure establishment and maintenance in the ocean.

European citizens are familiar with the ubiquity of cameras everywhere, monitoring high-traffic public places and roadways. In most cases, video feeds back to operations centers where operators look for specific events. On today's digital battlefield, ISR sensor data and video from UAS platforms, satellites, aircraft, and ground forces. I sat down with executives from Kitware to learn about leading-edge autonomous software aiding in these missions. Edited excerpts follow.?