Timeline of SRI International Innovations: 1980s

From the eradication of smallpox and recognition of the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease to the first AIDS diagnosis, medical news was at the forefront. Computers got smaller and faster, and personal computing took off. The stock market crash left investors fearful, while tensions rose over the environment and foreign relations. Silicon Valley emerged as the technology capital of the world.  

SRI expanded significantly in 1987 when the David Sarnoff Research Center (formerly RCA Laboratories and now called Sarnoff Corporation) was given to SRI by General Electric.  

HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION (HDTV): Sarnoff Corporation, which has received 10 Emmy® Awards for its television innovations, developed super-resolution television for commercial use.
				INTRUSION DETECTION: SRI's pioneering statistical anomaly detection and rule-based signature analysis software led to the Intrusion Detection Expert System (IDES), Next-Generation IDES (NIDES), and in the 1990s to the EMERALD® network intrusion detection solution.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL LASER FLUORESCENCE IMAGING: SRI developed this technology used worldwide to visualize flow and chemical processes in combustion.
				RANSAC (Random Sample Consensus): In 1981, SRI introduced this now widely referenced paradigm for robust computation ideally suited to computer vision (a type of artificial intelligence used in image analysis). (PDF)
MULTIMEDIA ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM: SRI helped develop and implement one of the first electronic mail systems to include graphics, speech, and text.
				FRASTASCOPE: SRI's novel Fracture-Surface Topography Analysis system is one of the world's best tools for studying the cause and time history of structural and material fractures.
ULTRASOUND: SRI's pioneering reflex transmission imagery improved the use of ultrasound in medical diagnostics, and was licensed by most ultrasound equipment manufacturers.
				FREQUENCY MODULATION (FM) SPECTROSCOPY: SRI's method of ultrasensitive trace gas detection with tunable diode lasers has applications in explosives detection, medical diagnostics, industrial process control, and pollution and environmental monitoring.
POLYBENZOXAZOLE ROD POLYMERS: SRI patented polymers that can be spun into very strong, extremely cut- and heat-resistant yarn and can be woven into fabric. They are used in sailcloth, race cars, and golf clubs.
				FORMAL METHODS: SRI's pioneering methods of applying mathematical logic for rigorous reasoning about the correctness of computer software culminated in two important tools: the Hierarchical Development Methodology (HDM) formulated at SRI in the 1970s, and today's widely used program, PVS.
THEORY OF NONINTERFERENCE: SRI developed one of the most influential theoretical approaches to the study of computer security.
				ORDER-SORTED ALGEBRA: SRI's convenient equational specification approach is embodied in the OBJ family of programming languages.
PRINCETON ENGINE: SRI's subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation, developed a massively parallel computer for real-time continuous video and image processing.
				SURFACE ANALYSIS BY LASER IONIZATION (SALI): In 1984, SRI developed this now-standard method for analyzing metals, semiconductors, composites, ceramics, and polymers.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS: Since the 1980s, test methods and protocols developed by SRI chemists have contributed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's regulation of organic compounds such as phthalates and pesticides.
				OZONE DEPLETION: SRI's award-winning research demonstrated how particular chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) contribute to the depletion of stratospheric ozone.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH: For the National Science Foundation, SRI has operated the Sondrestrom Research Facility in Greenland since 1983 to study the polar upper atmosphere. Hundreds of scientists around the world use the facility's data, and dozens of researchers and students visit the site each year.
				HUMAN LIVER FACILITY: SRI demonstrated the use of human liver tissue to test the safety of new drugs, and established a liver tissue bank as an alternative to animal testing.
RISKS FORUM: Established in 1985 by SRI under the sponsorship of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Risks Forum is perhaps the single most comprehensive anthology of computer-related mishaps.
				ROYAL ORDER OF THE NORTH STAR: In 1982, SRI's Dennis Finnigan was honored by the King of Sweden for many years of consulting services to Swedish industry. Finnigan also received SRI's most prestigious honor, the Gibson Achievement Award, in 2002.
FOOTBALL: SRI's multidisciplinary study for the NFL proposed changes to reduce injuries that ranged from player conditioning to better equipment.
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