ACM

Communications of the ACM

Home/Magazine Archive/March 2022 (Vol. 65, No. 3)/Bursting a Few Balloons Regarding the Famous DARPA.../Abstract

Viewpoint

Bursting a Few Balloons Regarding the Famous DARPA Red Balloon Challenge

By Stuart Madnick
Communications of the ACM, March 2022, Vol. 65 No. 3, Pages 33-34
10.1145/3517127
Comments

View as: Print Mobile App ACM Digital Library In the Digital Edition Share:

red and white balloons in flight — Credit: Getty Images

It is approximately 50 years since the first appearance of the ARPAnet, the predecessor to the now ubiquitous Internet. It is timely to reflect back on the DARPA Network Challenge (also known as the Red Balloon Challenge) in 2009 in honor of the 40^th anniversary of the first remote log-in to the ARPANet on October 29, 1969. The results of that competition were reported in Communications² but some important details have not previously been reported.

Teams had to find 10 red weather balloons deployed at undisclosed locations across the continental U.S. The first team to correctly identify the locations of all 10 would win a $40,000 prize. It was intended to explore how the Internet and social networking could be used to solve a distributed, time-critical, geo-location problem.

No entries found

Log in to Read the Full Article

Sign In

Sign in using your ACM Web Account username and password to access premium content if you are an ACM member, Communications subscriber or Digital Library subscriber.

Need Access?

Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.

Create a Web Account

If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.

Join the ACM

Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine

Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.

Purchase the Article

Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.