Three Carnegie Mellon scientists are members of an IBM-led consortium that is exploring advanced technology for secure wireless and sensor networks for U.S. and United Kingdom defense agencies.The newly formed International Technology Alliance (ITA) in Network and Information Sciences includes academic, industrial and government researchers from both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence awarded the contract- valued at up to $135.8 million over a potential 10-year period- to the consortium after a competitive procurement process.

Katia Sycara, research professor in the Robotics Institute; Dawn Song, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science; and Srinivasan Seshan, associate professor of computer science, are among the academic researchers in the consortium.

Successful future military operations will depend on the capability of coalition forces to quickly gather, interpret and share battlefield information to coordinate actions, so the consortium will undertake research that will enable interoperability and communications across disparate military units, allowing them to operate more effectively.

"With the ITA, the U.S. and UK are pioneering a ground-breaking model, drawing upon academia and industry for a world-class research and technology partnership," said Paul Horn, senior vice president, IBM Research. "The ITA program is designed to break down the barriers between different technical areas and define synergistic projects that promote cooperation across international and organizational boundaries."

In addition to Carnegie Mellon, the U.S. academic participants are City University of New York, Columbia University, University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Penn State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and UCLA.

The University of Aberdeen, University of Cambridge and Imperial College, London are among seven UK academic members. The nine industrial members include Boeing, Honeywell and LogicaCMG. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory round out the consortium.