TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Ground/Sea Vehicles, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), Ground Mobile Radio (GMR), ACAT I

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate techniques to mitigate the impact of unintentional interference in the VHF and UHF communications bands caused by high-power transmitters located in close proximity to the communicator.

DESCRIPTION: As military operations increasingly rely upon communications and surveillance equipment, these systems are ever more prone to cause mutual interference. Cellular telephone operators frequently combat service-degrading interference to their network induced by nearby commercial, amateur, and military transmitters. Procedural solutions have been used historically to mitigate this issue with a modest degree of success, but the continuing proliferation of transmitter devices is overwhelming this approach. Rather, the communications equipment requires a defense mechanism to enable communication in the presence of high-level interferers.

In the presence of an in-band strong interferer, the Radio Frequency (RF) Front End of many radios will overload and become effectively disabled. As a first level of defense, the amplitude of a high-level in-band interferer must be reduced to a level low enough to ensure normal RF operation of the radio. The operation of such a device must be transparent to the user; it must be able to support the presence of multiple simultaneous interferers, and it must be implemented using hardware technology that can be implemented in a small form factor. It is also acceptable to utilize a systems level approach that includes networked communications and negotiations with a friendly interfering device in order to achieve performance objectives.

PHASE I: Conduct a Preliminary Design Review for a device capable of reducing the levels of high-level interferers in accordance with the following requirements: (1) Frequency Range - VHF and UHF bands; (2) Minimum number of interferers to cancel simultaneously � Three; (3) Required Operator Input � Frequency range of operation; (4) Minimum attenuation of interferer � 40 dB. Use a hardware prototype or simulations to validate the potential of the proposed technique.

PHASE II: Utilize Modeling and Simulation (M&S) or build hardware/software prototypes to test and validate proposed technical approaches. Determine applicability of approach for a net-centric mobile, shipboard, and terrestrial non-mobile installation scenarios. If approach is validated, design a limited-capability prototype system using representative hardware. Support the Government in performing field testing with the device.

PHASE III: Complete implementation of system. Fabricate Engineering Development Models. Support Government Development testing.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: The frequency band the performance characteristics required for tactical military requirements are also shared by the cellular telephone industry. This technology could be applied to cellular base stations and potentially cell phones themselves to reduce the number of cell sites required and the robustness of calls with phone users.

REFERENCES:
1. Joint Chiefs of Staff Net Centric Operational Environment Project: http://www.jcs.mil/j6/netcentric.html

2. Net Centric Operational Environment: http://www.jcs.mil/j6/ncoeproject.ppt#787,1,Net-centric Operational Environment

3. Joints Net-Centric Operations Campaign Plan, Annex A: http://www.jcs.mil/j6/c4campaignplan/JNO_Campaign_Plan.pdf

KEYWORDS: JTRS; interference; jamming; EMI; Spectrum; Common Timing Protocol.

TPOC: Jarrett Mowery
Phone: (619)341-3961
Fax:
Email: [email protected]
2nd TPOC: Rich North
Phone: (619)524-4600
Fax:
Email: [email protected]

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 13 and December 9, 2007, you may talk directly with the Topic Author(s) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 10, 2007, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (08.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 08.1 topic under which they are proposing.

If you have general questions about DoD SBIR program, please contact the DoD SBIR Help Desk at (866) 724-7457 or email weblink.