Decentralized Autonomy Research
Coordination, decision-making, and task-allocation approaches for distributed unmanned systems operating under degraded conditions.
Defense Autonomy R&D · United States
Resilient autonomy for contested environments.
Icarus Dynamics develops and evaluates decentralized coordination approaches for unmanned teams operating under communications denial. We combine simulation, applied research, and embedded integration to move concepts toward operational platforms.
UEI YN8GEFDBFPG8 CAGE 20G03 NAICS 541330 · 541715 · 334515 SAM.gov Active
Animated diagram: defending platforms maintain coordinated motion and intercept incoming tracks while communication links between them degrade.
01Company Thesis
Most autonomous systems perform best when communications, sensing, and centralized coordination remain available. Icarus Dynamics studies the harder case: how distributed systems continue making useful decisions as those assumptions fail.
Build for the degraded case.
02Current R&D
Counter-swarm coordination under communications denial
Our current research is a simulation-based, internally funded trade study of decentralized and passive coordination strategies for counter-swarm interceptors under communications denial.
Status
U.S. Army Phase I SBIR proposal submitted August 2026 in response to Topic ARM26BX04-NV008, “Asymmetric Collaborative Counter-Swarm.” Pre-award.
How this work is grounded
| Test infrastructure | Multi-agent simulation testbed designed, built, and validated against pre-registered acceptance gates |
|---|---|
| Practitioner grounding | Three structured customer-discovery interviews with counter-UAS practitioners |
| Requirements analysis | Approximately 50 official Government Q&A responses analyzed |
| Research foundation | 50-source technical literature library |
| External expertise | Four university faculty advisors engaged under proposal-scoped, award-contingent agreements, each with a signed letter of support |
Detailed technical information is not published and is released only to qualified parties after export-control and proprietary-information review.
Animated strip chart with a moving sweep cursor: communication events thin out to nothing across a shaded denied interval while intercept events continue at a steady cadence throughout.
03Capabilities
Simulation and Evaluation
Agent-based simulation, trade studies, failure characterization, sensitivity analysis, and evaluation infrastructure for autonomy programs.
Embedded and Platform Integration
Embedded control, sensing, edge-compute analysis, and platform interfaces required to move autonomy toward physical systems.
Selected instrumentation and hardware R&D — precision electrochemical instrumentation, electrokinetic pump hardware, embedded/PCB design, additive prototyping — continues under Applied R&D →
04Where This Goes
Icarus Dynamics is building a hybrid defense technology company. The model: sponsored R&D as the route into difficult, operator-grounded problems; the capabilities that generalize developed into reusable products and intellectual property; teaming and integration to carry them to the field.
05Company
Icarus Dynamics LLC is a U.S. defense autonomy R&D firm. The firm is single-principal by design at this stage: every engagement is scoped honestly, and you work directly with the engineer doing the work.
Bradley Brewington — Principal Engineer
Texas A&M mechatronics engineering background. Hands-on across the full digital thread: autonomy and coordination algorithms, simulation, embedded firmware, precision analog design, PCB layout, CAD, and additive fabrication.
Compliance posture
U.S. person; all work performed in the United States. ITAR-aware handling of technical data. Unclassified programs only. Registered and active in SAM.gov.
Registration & identifiers
| Legal name | Icarus Dynamics LLC |
|---|---|
| UEI | YN8GEFDBFPG8 |
| CAGE | 20G03 |
| NAICS | 541330 / 541715 / 334515 |
| Size | Small Business (self-certified) |
| SAM.gov | Active |
| Facility | Unclassified — United States |
| SBIR/STTR | Eligible, Phase I & II |
06Contact
Bring us a difficult autonomy problem.
Icarus Dynamics is interested in Army and broader DoD research programs, prime-contractor teaming, autonomy evaluation, and platform-integration opportunities.