TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Air Platform, Electronics, Ground/Sea Vehicles

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: NAE Chief Technology Office

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

OBJECTIVE: Develop an open architecture, portable, podable, relatively low size, weight, and power (SWaP) reprogrammable solution to focus computing power on high-speed streaming data in order to rapidly extract and identify signals of interest.

DESCRIPTION: Electronic receiver bandwidth and fidelity capabilities are increasing rapidly. Each of these attributes increases file size of stored radio frequency (RF) sample data and data rates streaming to those sensors. In most cases, the data is packaged into summary descriptor format (such as pulse descriptor words (PDWs)) for further ingest by on-board computing resources or stored for off-board processing. Turning the In-Phase Quadrature (IQ) data into PDWs leaves the potential for unprocessed and unexploited data of which the end user is unaware. Reference 3 explains the current method of forming PDWs and the type of information they contain. There is no common standard for PDWs as each vendor uses their own signal detection, classification, and PDW generator algorithm.� Select a PDW format that best suits the development of the approach to signal identification.

A method for collecting and exploiting the unprocessed and unexploited data that needs to be developed. Develop a capability whereby an operator can selectively filter unexploited data real-time in frequency, time, or other method. The ability to look for correlation with existing emitter files and/or to identify emitters of interest in an electromagnetic (EM)-dense environment frequency band at the point of actual IQ data, before the PDW summary information is formed which can potentially result in loss of information is needed.

For this SBIR topic, the term �emitters of interest� can be communication signals in a population-dense urban environment, such as individual cell phones, radio, television, or satellite communication. The general idea of this system is the ability to detect a specific signal, like a military type emitter, in an EM-cluttered urban environment�taking into account that the emitter of interest will be using benign signals to hide its intent or actions.

The system must take advantage of the many Open Systems Architectures (OSAs) that are available so that as threat systems advance, the system can be reprogrammable with new algorithm improvements to respond to ever changing threats. Examples include OSAs such as Open System Architecture (OSA), Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA), and/or Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA).

The resulting system should be able to analyze 1GHz - 4GHz of instantaneous bandwidth and cover as much frequency as possible, 0.1 � 18 GHz preferred, more if possible.

The final design should be compatible with standard Air Transport Radio (ATR) chassis or equivalent chassis with SWaP requirements of fitting in a 7-10 inch diameter pod such as the ALQ-167, convert 400Hz to 28V DC, and use 350 Watts or less power. Operational system will have access to 3 PHASE 400 Hz 115/200VAC at 10A per PHASE.

Work produced in Phase II may become classified.
Note: The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. owned and operated with no foreign influence as defined by DoD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures can and have been implemented and approved by the Defense Security Service (DSS). The selected contractor and/or subcontractor must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances. This will allow contractor personnel to perform on advanced phases of this project as set forth by DSS and NAVAIR in order to gain access to classified information pertaining to the national defense of the United States and its allies; this will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material IAW DoD 5220.22-M during the advanced phases of this contract.

PHASE I: Propose a new Electronic Warfare��� receiver architecture where such a system could reside, how it could access data, how it could be steered or reprogrammed, and what the capabilities of rapidly inferring RF environment from raw data samples are (e.g., latency, fidelity). The proposed should understand that there is a high probability of there being multiple signals within the frequency range of interest. Feedback from the PDW formation process is an option to aid in deinterleaving, but the proposed approach should rely on the predetermined mission data files that specify emitter parameters as a final option. System must have a way of dealing with the possibility that an emitter-mission data file is not loaded and providing the user with an acceptable solution. The Phase I effort will include prototype plans to be developed under Phase II.

PHASE II: Prototype a solution with (for example) GUI interaction for reprogramming of a high bandwidth data stream. Simulate the data stream or provide by other efforts - such that Phase II does not become an activity of designing a high-speed receiver. The prototype should instead focus on aiding interpretation of the data.

Work in Phase II may become classified.� Please see note in Description paragraph.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Perform final testing with a real-world EM dense environment to test the developed algorithms. Demonstrate the ability to identify complex emitters. Transition and integrate into appropriate platforms and systems. Successful technology development would benefit Commercial Airport Monitoring, as well as Frequency monitoring for the communication industry.

REFERENCES:

1. �AN/ALQ-167 - E/F Band Jammer Group.� Rodale Electronics, Inc. http://www.rodaleelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/Rodale_ALQ-167_EF_Band.pdf

2. MIL-STD-810H, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TEST METHOD STANDARD: ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS AND LABORATORY TESTS (31-JAN-2019). http://everyspec.com/MIL-STD/MIL-STD-0800-0899/MIL-STD-810H_55998/

3. MIL-STD-461, MILITARY STANDARD: ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE CHARACTERISTICS REQUIREMENTS FOR EQUIPMENT (31 JUL 1967). http://everyspec.com/MIL-STD/MIL-STD-0300-0499/MIL-STD-461_8678/

KEYWORDS: Field Programmable Gate Array; FPGA; Radio Frequency System on Chip; RFSOC; VME International Trade Association; VITA; Graphic Processing Unit; GPU; Machine Learning; ML; Open System Architecture; OSA; Sensor Open Systems Architecture; SOSA; Modular Open System Architecture; MOSA; Artificial Intelligence; AI