DESERT FLOWERS:

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a program for expanding the access to domestic manufacturing capabilities for secured microelectronics development for defense systems, according to Thursday press releases. 

The Structured Array Hardware for Automatically Realized Applications, or SAHARA, program will enable the automated and scalable conversion of field-programmable gate array designs into Application Specific Integrated Circuit, or ASIC, platforms for defense needs, according to a DARPA press release. Intel will work with researchers from the University of Florida, University of Maryland, and Texas A&M, in a three-year partnership under the SAHARA program, according to an Intel press release. 

"SAHARA aims to enable a 60 percent reduction in design time, a 10X reduction in engineering costs, and a 50 percent reduction in power consumption by automating the FPGA-to-Structured ASICs conversion," Serge Leef, a program manager in DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, said in the DARPA release. 

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