Labs and Facilities
Innovation is woven into everything we do. Explore some of our cutting-edge collaboration spaces, labs, and test facilities.
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Virtual Tour
Take a guided virtual tour of APL and learn more about our campus and capabilities.
Labs of the Lab
Selected Labs and Facilities
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NAMI
The NAMI facility is a first-of-its-kind laboratory that unlocks the power of biology for national and environmental security. With aquariums sized from 10 to 1,000 gallons, and the capability to make up to 10,000 gallons of its own seawater per day, the space is home to a wide variety of organisms—from barnacles and mussels to crabs, coral, and algae species. While much of their work in NAMI (short for tsunami) focuses on national security challenges, researchers are also tackling issues related to climate change, studying the environmental impact of technologies such as antifouling coatings, and performing basic research of organisms in controlled settings.
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Quantum Devices Laboratory
The Quantum Devices Laboratory is a key resource for addressing critical challenges in quantum information science. State-of-the-art microwave, cryogenic, and quantum control technologies enable researchers to test new theories and devices critical to harnessing the power of quantum for computing and sensors.
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Live Data, Integration, Validation, and Experimentation (LIVE) Lab
LIVE Lab allows researchers to visualize data on information networks and use automated pattern recognition to discover anomalies that indicate cyberattacks. This lab features a suite of tools to help cyber operators detect, understand, and respond to cyberattacks across many platforms and applications.
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Health Engineering and Analytics Lab (HEAL)
HEAL offers a location for staff members to work and share information—including systems to support Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) data use and storage; technology for visualization, computation, and collaboration; and a robust virtual presence to facilitate and strengthen partnerships with other Johns Hopkins entities. It includes a mock intensive care unit as well as dedicated areas for sponsor engagement, collaborative analysis, meetings, and breaks.
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Dragonfly Flight Lab
In the Dragonfly Flight Lab, engineers are developing the flight control system and navigation algorithms for NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft-lander mission to Saturn’s exotic moon Titan. The indoor facility has a 900-square-foot flight area for testing, integration, and maintenance of two half-scale Dragonfly flight vehicles, and a thrust test stand made for experimenting with algorithms and informing simulation models with actual data. Scheduled to launch in 2027, Dragonfly is a revolutionary mission concept that marks the first time NASA will fly a rotorcraft for science on another planet.
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Research Advancing Physical Threat Reduction (RAPTR) Laboratory
The RAPTR laboratory facilitates technological innovation aimed at combating physical threats to public spaces—so-called “soft targets”—through activities ranging from applied research to prototype integration to system testing and evaluation.
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Hydrodynamics Research Laboratory
The Hydrodynamics Research Laboratory was established decades ago to help the Navy and other government sponsors understand the phenomenology behind hydrodynamics challenges—a critical mission that continues today.
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Communications Central
The Communications Central facilities provide a platform to test and develop the decision-making and central management needed for and enabled by communication systems for missions of critical national importance. From the Command Center, our sponsors can see a mission’s information flows and can understand and control the communications environment.
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Space Simulation and Vibration Test Labs
The Space Simulation Laboratory replicates the operating conditions of space, and engineers use the Vibration Test Laboratory to perform structural qualification testing to ensure space systems can withstand the rigors of launch and operation. Our testing philosophy—test as you fly, fly as you test—has enabled the remarkable longevity of APL’s spacecraft and instruments.
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Combat Systems Evaluation and Minotaur Laboratories
The Combat Systems Evaluation Laboratory supports developers who prototype, test, and field solutions for combat identification, area air defense, time-sensitive targeting, and surface surveillance. The Minotaur Laboratory adds to this capability by enabling engineers to participate in fleet exercises and operations, and to perform remote diagnostics of shipboard systems.
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Augmented Reality Environment at APL (ARENA)
ARENA is a visual-simulation test and demonstration facility, made to showcase the interactive virtual environments that APL develops for military training. For example, the Virtual Instructor Project, which can train sailors to launch weapons from submarines, can be displayed across the multitude of screens in the room to provide an immersive demonstration of the application.
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Intelligent Systems Center (ISC)
The ISC radically enhances our ability to develop algorithms and machine teammates for human operators. The center leverages APL’s broad expertise across defense, intelligence, homeland protection, space exploration, and health care to fundamentally advance the employment of intelligent systems in real-world settings—and in ways that benefit the nation.
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Brain-Computer Interface Lab
The Laboratory has developed a significant brain–computer interface (BCI) research program as a continuation of its groundbreaking work leading the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. Building on research undertaken in creating the world’s first neurally controlled prosthetic limb, APL has brought together experts in multiple fields to envision and create world-class, noninvasive, optical imaging BCI technologies. In February 2017, APL and Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers used brain–computer interfacing to show they can directly observe concepts in the human brain.
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Central Spark
Central Spark is a 24/7 innovation space, giving staff the freedom to pursue direct, indirect, and personal endeavors with minimal rules, promoting creativity and experimentation. The brand-new Central Spark facility provides 9,000 square feet of collaboration space, with over 3,000 staff visits per week. Central Spark combines the capabilities of virtual, augmented, and extended reality development, electronic circuitry capabilities, rapid physical fabrication, and human-centered design, and also offers gathering space for breaks and conversation.
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Research and Exploratory Development
Inventing the Future
Our Research and Exploratory Development Mission Area conducts pioneering research targeting breakthroughs to benefit national security missions.
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National Security Analysis
Collaborative Analysis Center (CAC)
A secure setting for immersive collaborative analysis, gaming, and strategy events to tackle challenges in national security, space exploration, and more.