ARL, as a defense-focused research and development institution, maintains a robust set of enterprise services and Laboratory-wide activities to enable and empower the ARL research mission.
develops non-proprietary solutions and champions the transfer of advanced technologies to the Department of Defense (DoD), National Intelligence Community (IC), and other government and industrial entities. We’re a rapidly expanding organization that has experienced significant growth over the last five years – not only with project funding, but also with our total number of funded projects.
CINO concentrates on the collection, analysis, processing, exploitation, transportation and visualization of signals, data and information. Cyberspace and the wider information environment are our focus. By leveraging our expertise in information and communication technologies (ICT), and navigation systems, we evolve ideas from concepts, through design, prototypes, testing and evaluation. We equip the USG with the capabilities needed for the nation’s top priorities.
Our mission focus spans the physical warfighting domains: land, air, space, maritime, electromagnetic spectrum, and cyberspace. We are focused on our DoD and other USG sponsors who benefit from an established, trusted relationship, and our agility and ability to rapidly innovate and provide prototypes that meet national security needs sought by our sponsors for their missions.
Within its six divisions, CINO develops non-proprietary solutions and champions the transfer of advanced technologies to the DoD, National Intelligence Community, and other government and industrial entities.
Advanced Science and Technology (AST) focuses on nascent technologies in the areas of electromagnetics, electromagnetic maneuver warfare, quantum sciences, and sensors.
Through cross-Division and cross-Office collaborations, AST provides foundational basic and applied research products in these areas to benefit the USG and warfighter communities.
Communications and Signal Processing (CSP) supports the DoD and IC by providing basic and applied research expertise to develop and prototype advanced communications systems and associated technologies.
CSP supports the transition of these prototype capabilities to operational utility.
Cyber, Modeling, and Simulation (CMS) conducts research and development on full spectrum cyber capabilities, providing warfighters with strategic and operational cyberspace superiority in conjunction with the ability to achieve and maintain information dominance.
CMS also leverages modeling and simulation expertise and other resources to deliver prototypes, demonstrations, and accelerated transitions of emerging research and technologies vital to national security needs, in addition to performing research, development, testing, and evaluations facilitating innovation in practice and development of critical, in-demand capabilities.
A cyber center of excellence, CMS researches, develops, and delivers to sponsors a diverse range of innovative, forward-thinking cyber capabilities spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and featuring the speed and agility required to achieve cyberspace domain dominance.
The Geospatial, Image, and Data Sciences Division focuses on GeoSpatial Intelligence (GEOINT) and its supporting disciplines, while supporting the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG).
Our team of researchers includes image scientists, mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, geographers, and meteorologists.
Navigation Research and Development (NRD) serves the DoD by performing precision navigation research, development, testing, and evaluation to meet current and future military mission needs. NRD provides system engineering and technical advice for transitioning new technology and advanced capabilities into military platforms through utilization of specialized scientific and engineering navigation experts and a unique testing facility.
Visualization and Decision Support (VDS) researches, develops, and applies technical innovations that provide decision advantage through the use of visualizations, analytics, geographic information systems, simulations, and collaboration technologies.
Our team leverages core competencies in basic and applied fluid dynamics, marine systems, turbomachinery, and testing to achieve innovative solutions for demanding technical challenges. Our concentrations include:
We create advanced technology to reduce vibration and noise by using thorough experimental measurements and computational predictions in complex structures. Our concentrations include:
We perform advanced physics modeling using high performance computing. Our state-of-the-art design and analysis software tools allow us to execute high fidelity numerical simulation. Our concentrations include:
We house specialized experimental facilities, advanced instrumentation techniques, and state-of-the-art computational resources. Our expertise and capabilities include:
We develop and execute leading edge technology programs from basic research through full-scale system applications in the areas of fluid dynamics and turbomachinery, flow and structural acoustics, and computational mechanics.
We develop technology in these areas and transition it to the DoD, and industry. We also develop and maintain world-class facilities, instrumentation, and methodology for the experimental and computational study of fluid dynamic and acoustic phenomena. These include a precision model shop for fabrication of test models and prototype hardware.
Our sponsors and research partners depend on our scientists, researchers, and industry professionals to solve highly specialized technical problems in the air and in the water.
Our state-of-the-art research facilities enable hands-on exploration and innovation in a secure space, allowing for rapid innovation and prototyping.
ARL conducts basic and applied research over a broad range of materials, processes and characterization methods. Areas of expertise include metal, ceramic, and polymer additive manufacturing, composites, coatings for corrosion and wear resistance, optics, thermal and environmental barriers, nuclear, biomaterials, gear technology, corrosion, thermo-mechanical processing, high pressure testing, solid-state consolidation and electronic materials and devices.
Modeling capabilities include high strain-rate, design for affordability, large deformation, acoustic tailoring and the impacts of defects on the performance of AM components.
Testing capabilities include corrosion, hot corrosion, wear resistance, oxidation resistance, erosion resistance, mechanical and material properties, optical properties, tribology, vibration and acoustic response. ARL can tailor capabilities to develop material solutions to meet demanding performance requirements.
We develop and deploy manufacturing processes and systems to support the current and future needs of our customers product lifecycle management challenges.
We are engaged across the spectrum of manufacturing from trade space design processes, additive manufacturing in metals and advanced coating technologies, to workcell development, through the modeling, simulation and analysis of industrial facilities.
We specialize in developing innovative and affordable technology solutions than can be implemented and sustained by our customers.
At ARL, effective lifecycle asset management of complex systems starts with conducting reliability engineering and reliability centered maintenance (RCM) assessments to determine the failure modes that have the highest impact on sustainment.
We select the optimum combination of integrated technologies including advanced NDI techniques and Predictive/Prognostic technologies that enable Condition Based Maintenance. Our focus is to enable the most cost effective and advantageous sustainment solutions for your complex systems.
We collaborate with our customers to design solutions that range from the core to the very edge of their enterprises for products including food, water, fuel, equipment, spare parts and medical supplies.
We specialize in conducting supply chain engineering, designing and implementing supply chain systems, and developing specialized expeditionary applications unique to the US military.
The SOA division consists of the Complex Systems Monitoring Department, Embedded Systems Department, and Vehicle Investigation and Cybersecurity Department that have complimentary missions in the area of lifecycle asset sustainment.
The unified mission includes:
Capabilities include:
Our goal is enabling our customers to leverage advanced technologies to become data driven decision makers for the sustainment of their critical assets.
An interdisciplinary group of engineers, software developers, functional business process experts, and IT professionals who collaborate to support effective and efficient digital transformation programs.
We conduct basic and applied R&D efforts focused on acquiring data, turning data into information and knowledge, and delivering that data, information, and knowledge to the right warfighter at the right time.
Our research spans the spectrum from the tip of the spear to the heart of the enterprise.
Our customers face the challenge of operating the world’s most complex organizations in the world’s most complex environments and the tools they use must speed decision making to outperform their competitors. They benefit from ARL’s targeted research to support decisions that help them improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations.
The Materials Science and Applications Division consists of:
Division faculty and staff support the development and implementation of material and material related solutions.
The mission includes:
Our goal to develop optimal solutions to material and material related issues to enable our customers to solve current and emerging problems and to provide subject matter experts for material issues.
The Manufacturing Systems Division consists of the Product and Process Design Department, the Lifecycle Engineering Department, and the Production Engineering Department.
Design and manufacturing is where ideas are reduced to practice. Our nation’s competitiveness is directly tied to our capability in these domains.
The Electro-Optics and Electronics Division provides trusted agent services; industry interface; research and development; modeling and simulation; system design, fabrication, integration, testing & evaluation; and acts as a repository of knowledge for the US Navy, and other Department of Defense (DoD) entities in technical areas related to electro-optics & electronics.
Our work with industry, academia professional organizations and government laboratories serves to nurture the development of electro-optic and electronic materials/components, and transition successful technologies needed for the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities.
Intimately tied to our designation by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as a Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Center of Excellence in Electro-Optics (since 1999) and Electronics (since 2021), we rapidly and nimbly develop solutions to reduce the acquisition costs of US Navy platforms through improved manufacturing processes, introduction of emerging technologies, and technology transfer between the commercial and military market sectors.
The greatest ongoing challenge facing DoD technology advancement is transcending the “gap” between identifying and developing the most promising research and transitioning it to manufacturing for field and fleet acquisition. Transcending this gap is precisely what we do. From groundbreaking research to extending the lives of legacy systems, our staff has successfully demonstrated we can meet our sponsors’ most challenging technology transition requirements.
By addressing warfighter issues from a systems-focused perspective, we are able to shorten the development life cycle and expediently field relevant solutions at lower cost and greater availability.
The Materials Design and Optimization Division conducts basic and applied research in composite, multi-material, and multi-functional hybrid materials and structures for DoD and industrial applications with emphasis on performance, reliability, affordability and technology transfer.
We have expertise across the entire process of creating new, novel composite and multi-functional materials. This expertise includes formulation of the material chemistry, manufacturing, component and system level mechanical design/analysis, and quality assurance through both destructive and non-destructive testing.
Capabilities include:
Fabrication facilities include:
In addition ARL-Penn State maintains a machine shop with 38 stations that include six 5-axis, three 4-axis and four 3-axis CNC machining stations. ARL has access to 0°F walk-in freezers and standalone chest freezers. CMD maintains data acquisition capabilities for a wide range of in-situ process monitoring.
We research at the intersections between additive manufacturing, composites, and polymeric materials. We develop processes to enable new functionality using advanced designs of composite materials with selective placement of material properties within complex geometries for more intelligent designs.
This multiple material composite design capability includes process and machine optimization in order to reliably manufacture multi-functional parts for applied end use applications.
With proper design, composite and hybrid materials can provide increased performance through weight savings and increases in specific strength while simultaneously enabling enhanced capabilities through embedded multifunctionality. The Materials Design and Optimization Division has a demonstrated history of creating and transitioning advanced material solutions to our DoD customers and our systems can be found throughout the undersea and surface fleets.
Penn State’s Center for Innovative Material Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) is a University-wide activity that seeks to discover, develop, and deploy additive manufacturing (AM) technology for critical applications. The Center is operated by fulltime Applied Research Laboratory personnel and comprising more than 100 faculty, staff, and students across a broad range of engineering and scientific disciplines. We’re committed to advancing AM science and technology through expertise in AM materials (engineering, characterization, and evaluation), processes (physics, analytics, engineering), and design.
CIMP-3D supports both fundamental research and applied development for AM of metals, polymers and ceramics. Our expertise spans all technology readiness levels and all aspects of AM: advanced AM-enabled designs; materials design, modeling, & characterization; process engineering, simulation, and optimization; and AM data management and process qualification. We are experienced in leading, executing, and supporting proprietary and controlled programs that advance and apply AM technology for our sponsors.
Our efforts to advance AM science and technologies enable our customers to improve the performance, capability, and readiness of their critical, engineered assets.
ARL is partnered with a wide range of research facilities, centers, and institutes. Our partnerships help advance the state-of-the-art technology and practices within our many research areas.
USO designs, develops, validates, and maintains a suite of large-scale undersea warfare models and simulations used by technology developers, analysts, the Navy, and its allies. We serve as a research center of excellence in undersea weapons, unmanned undersea vehicles, and advanced sonars.
We support our national security and undersea warfare sponsors through the development and demonstration of science and technology with the expertise, tools, and processes to take concepts from the early developmental phase through transition to industry and the fleet.
Capabilities:
We equip our national security, intelligence community, and government sponsors with the tools they need to achieve their missions. Our expertise in rapid prototyping and cutting-edge research provides a competitive advantage to our mission partners.
Our employees whose work or research can be done remotely, from home, are doing so. We have also given the opportunity of a flexible work schedule to assist our employees who have other obligations to consider. For those whose work or research requires them to be in our laboratories, offices, or on campus, we are following all protocols necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, including mandatory mask training, strict safety procedures, and a network of contacts for reporting any ill-feeling symptoms.
As new employees join our workforce, the above guidelines apply.
You can be confident that we will maintain our vigilant enforcement of all COVID-19 protocols in our workplace to ensure the health and safety of everyone.
Our strength comes from our people… we are a diverse group of professionals who hail from all over this great Nation, with all kinds of experience and expertise. As a team, we will get through this together with patience, diligence, vigilance, and resilience.