Guidance

Competition: CHERI within Defence and Security

This competition seeks to experiment the effects of the CHERI based architecture extensions within Arm’s Morello prototype System on Chip (SoC).

Documents

CHERI within Defence and Security - Innovation Standard Contract Terms and Conditions

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accelerator@dstl.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

CHERI within Defence and Security

Image of ARM Morello SoC + 3 images of military personnel looking at computer devices.

Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition seeks proposals to experiment and trial the effects of the CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) based architecture extensions within Arm’s Morello prototype System on Chip (SoC). This competition is funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Cyber Programme, which hopes to assess a wide selection of software applications and platforms. The aim is to grow our understanding of the potential benefits or challenges of deploying such processor technologies within Defence and Security systems. We also seek to increase the base of potential defence suppliers with experience of Morello, to provide a pool of future innovation the UK can draw on.

Competition key information

Submission deadline

Midday on Monday 14 November 2022

Collaboration Survey now closed.

Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will require an account. Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

Total funding available

The total possible funding available for this competition is £1.5M (ex VAT), and we expect to fund a number of proposals of up to £100k (Exc. VAT) each in value. However, DASA reserves the right to fund one outstanding bid up to £1.5M (Exc. VAT) that demonstrates value for money, provides high quality supporting evidence of platform performance to date as well as a detailed project plan to deliver on the competition challenges. Contracts will be awarded for a duration of up to 10 months and must complete by January 2024 (although proposals of shorter duration will also be accepted).

Eligibility

The CHERI within Defence and Security themed competition is a UK initiative and is only open to submitters based within the UK. We welcome proposals from across the full range of UK based suppliers including academia, individuals (i.e. sole traders), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies. If you are an international company, to be eligible to apply, you will need to have a registered UK office at Company House. This is to enable submitters to fully participate and receive the Morello boards due to existing terms.

Published 22 September 2022
Last updated 14 November 2022 + show all updates
  1. Reminder: The submission period for the CHERI within Defence and Security competition closes today at 12 midday. Change: Updated Competition Document to show that collaboration survey is now closed

  2. Added notes throughout Competition document stating that collaboration survey will close on Friday 28 October.

  3. Removed previous update regarding DUNS numbers

  4. Updated eligibility section of Competition Document. Dun and Bradstreet numbers (DUNS number): Before you can submit a proposal, you will be required to enter a valid DUNS number.

  5. Updated eligibility wording to make it clear that all UK based suppliers can submit proposals into this competition.

  6. First published.