Defense Department receives World R&D 100 Award

Department of Defense (DoD) officials said the agency’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering has earned R&D World R&D 100 Award honors.

The DoD indicated the recognition within the Software/Services category stems from the development and implementation of the Motion Under Rubble Measured Using Radar (MURMUR) program via the Directorate of Research and Engineering for Advanced Capabilities.

Authorities described MURMUR as a small and lightweight sensor integrated on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) for rapid, remote deployment to disaster sites, with the ability to quickly detect, range, and characterize survivors amid rubble and degraded infrastructure in real-time while operating at larger standoff distances.

“I’m very proud of the MURMUR team’s accomplishment,” Jon Lazar, director of Capability Prototypes, said. “They took someone’s novel idea, rapidly prototyped it into a real capability, and transitioned that capability directly to DoD end-users for immediate use. That’s just the sort of innovation DoD needs.”

MURMUR is co-sponsored by US Special Operations Command and developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Labs, officials noted, adding the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering oversees DoD research, development, and prototyping activities.

The R&D 100 Awards serve as the sole science and technology awards competition acknowledging new commercial products, technologies, and materials for technological significance available for sale or license.