Special Program Announcement for 2018 Office of Naval Research Basic Research Opportunity: “Advancing Artificial Intelligence for the Naval Domain” | N00014 18 R SN05

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What is the name of this ONR opportunity?

The Special Program Announcement thrust is titled "Advancing Artificial Intelligence for the Naval Domain" and it was released by the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research (ONR).

2) What broader solicitation does this announcement fall under?

It is a basic research opportunity under ONR's FY18 Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology, identified as N00014-18-S-B001.

3) When was this Special Program Announcement released?

The announcement was released in February 2018.

4) What is ONR trying to accomplish with this AI-focused announcement?

The stated intent is to pull together and accelerate AI-related basic research that can matter to naval missions and operating environments. It also signals specific AI problem areas ONR wants the research community to focus on, encourages early conversations with ONR program staff, and provides timing for white papers and full proposals.

5) Is this basic research or applied development?

It is described as a basic research opportunity, while also pointing to interest in naval-relevant demonstrations or validations tied to the BAA program descriptions.

6) What funding instrument is being used?

The funding instrument is a grant.

7) Is this a discretionary grant opportunity?

Yes. The opportunity is described as discretionary.

8) About how many awards does ONR expect to make?

ONR indicated it expected to make around seven awards.

9) Is there an award ceiling (maximum dollar amount) listed?

The listing does not specify an award ceiling and shows it as 0. The description indicates applicants should refer to the attached instructions and the broader BAA for realistic project sizing and limits rather than assuming there is no constraint.

10) What AI areas does ONR frame as most relevant to this thrust?

The announcement frames AI as a cross-cutting capability spanning decision support, autonomy, human factors, and C4ISR, and it points proposers to multiple sections of the BAA Appendix 1 (Program Description).

11) Which ONR program codes are explicitly connected to this announcement?

The announcement cross-references multiple ONR codes, including Code 30 (Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism), Code 31 (C4ISR) under Mathematics, Computers and Information Sciences, Code 34 (Warfighter Performance) in Human and Bioengineered Systems, and Code 35 (Naval Air Warfare and Weapons) with an emphasis on autonomy.

12) What is emphasized under Code 30 in this announcement?

Code 30 is highlighted through the ONR 30 Decision Support, AI, Machine Learning, and Graph Analysis program area. The emphasis is on modeling, machine learning, AI, and graph-based methods that support decision advantage in complex, adversarial, and time-sensitive scenarios typical of expeditionary operations.

13) What kinds of research themes fit the Code 30 framing?

The description aligns with topics such as learning under uncertainty, reasoning over heterogeneous data sources, resilient analytics, and decision support methods designed to be trusted when information is incomplete or contested.

14) What is emphasized under Code 31 (C4ISR)?

Under Code 31, ONR highlights two related technical areas: computational methods for decision making, and machine learning, reasoning, and intelligence. This signals interest in decision-centric AI approaches that help fuse data, represent beliefs, reason about options, adapt plans, and recommend actions in command-and-control settings.

15) What operational constraints are implied for Code 31-related work?

The announcement implies attention to constraints common in naval applications, including limited communications, noisy sensors, rapidly changing operational pictures, and the need for understandable outputs for human operators and commanders.

16) How does Warfighter Performance (Code 34) connect to the AI thrust?

The announcement explicitly ties AI progress to Warfighter Performance, particularly in Human and Bioengineered Systems, and calls out perception, metacognition, cognitive control, and representing and reasoning about uncertainty.

17) What types of human-AI research does the Code 34 emphasis suggest?

Read together, the focus areas point toward improving how humans and AI systems work together, including AI that supports situational awareness, helps manage cognitive workload, and makes uncertainty visible and actionable. It also leaves room for human-AI teaming, calibration of trust, and methods that model or account for human intent, attention, and decision biases in high-stakes naval contexts.

18) What is emphasized under Code 35 (Naval Air Warfare and Weapons)?

Code 35 is connected through a strong emphasis on autonomy. The announcement highlights intelligent autonomy for safe, reliable, and scalable control of heterogeneous unmanned air systems based on high-level mission tasking, and it references the "Science of Autonomy" focus areas.

19) What autonomy capabilities does ONR explicitly call out?

The announcement emphasizes autonomous learning, reasoning, and decision-making in unstructured, dynamic, and uncertain environments; human interaction and collaboration (including understanding the intent and actions of human teammates, adversaries, and bystanders); and organic perception and understanding to support decisions and actions in complex real-world conditions.

20) Does ONR expect autonomy work to be validated beyond clean lab settings?

Yes. The language indicates interest in autonomy that holds up under real operational challenges such as changing weather and terrain, cluttered airspace, unexpected events, adversarial behavior, and the need to interpret mission intent from higher-level guidance while remaining safe and dependable.

21) Is this opportunity focused on a single narrow topic area or multiple AI subareas?

It is intentionally cross-cutting. The announcement encourages proposals that push fundamentals with clear naval relevance or integrate multiple AI components (perception, learning, reasoning, uncertainty, and human interaction) into coherent approaches that can transition into future Navy and Marine Corps capabilities.

22) What is the submission approach (white paper vs. full proposal)?

The opportunity is organized around a white paper to proposal pipeline. Timing for white paper submissions is provided in an attached document, followed by full proposal submission timing.

23) What is the main closing date listed for this opportunity?

The main closing date listed is May 11, 2018, with a note to consult the PDF for white paper timing details.

24) Where should applicants look for the exact white paper due dates?

The announcement notes that white paper timing and due dates are provided in an attached document (the PDF).

25) Who is eligible to apply based on the listing?

The eligible applicant category is listed broadly as "Others," with additional eligibility details in the full text. The description suggests ONR is typically open to a wide range of performers under BAAs (often including universities, nonprofit research organizations, for-profit companies, and teams/consortia), but applicants are expected to confirm exact eligibility rules and any restrictions in the full solicitation package.

26) Why does the announcement encourage early conversations with ONR program staff?

One purpose of the announcement is to prompt early conversations with ONR program staff, which aligns with its role as a targeted signal of preferred AI problem areas and a way to guide the white paper and proposal pipeline.

27) What does ONR mean here by "decision advantage" in expeditionary and adversarial settings?

In the context provided, it refers to AI-enabled approaches that help decision makers operate effectively in complex, time-sensitive scenarios where information can be incomplete, uncertain, heterogeneous, or contested.

28) Is explainability or operator-understandable output part of the focus?

Yes, indirectly but clearly. The Code 31 (C4ISR) framing highlights the need to deliver understandable outputs to human operators and commanders, consistent with decision-centric AI in command-and-control environments.

29) How central is uncertainty to this announcement?

Uncertainty is a recurring theme across the described areas: decision making under uncertainty (Code 30 and Code 31 implications) and explicit attention to representing and reasoning about uncertainty under Code 34.

30) What is the best overall way to interpret the scope of this opportunity?

It is a targeted call for AI basic research grounded in naval needs, spanning decision making in contested and dynamic environments, human-AI collaboration and cognitive considerations, and robust autonomy for heterogeneous unmanned systems, with cross-references to multiple ONR codes to encourage integrated, naval-relevant approaches.