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Army Funding Anticipating challenging battle environments that military forces will face in future conflicts, the ARL’s Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) program began looking for promising technologies that would provide portable air and ground situational awareness devices for soldiers moving on foot through complex terrain, like dense urban areas. MAST’s Collaborative Technology Alliance (MAST-CTA) was created in 2008 to encourage cooperation among the military, industry and 20 research universities. Maryland’s aerospace engineering department was tapped as the program’s Center on Microsystem Mechanics, one of four centers for technology concentrations like electronics or autonomy.