ARETE ASSOCIATES — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N231-048
ARETE ASSOCIATES — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.
Phase I SBIR feasibility signal
- Phase I awards fund proof-of-concept work. For capture teams, they mark early interest from Department of Defense in a technical approach.
- Watch for Phase II follow-ons from the same firm/topic family — that conversion path is where budgets and transition pressure rise.
- Obligated amount $146,338. Cross-check similar awards in the same agency and technology tags for going-rate context.
- Topic code N231-048 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.
- Amount
- $146,338
- Agency
- Department of Defense · Navy
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- N231-048
- Solicitation
- 23.1
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- 2023-08-09 → 2024-02-20
Description
Autonomous detection, classification, and localization of underwater explosions reduces or eliminates the need for post battle damage assessment (BDA) missions, which saves time, cost, boosts efficiency, and frees mine detecting assets. Arete proposes to develop, deliver, and integrate a custom, low SWaP-C edge processor board with onboard algorithms for BDA. The board is compatible with A-size sonobuoys and utilizes existing fleet USBL arrays for acoustic data collection. The objectives of this Phase 1 feasibility study are to refine functional requirements and performance metrics; develop a preliminary system design, including algorithms and low-power edge processing board, suitable for SWaP and cost analysis; demonstrate, through simulations, the algorithm performance to localize explosions, count the number of explosions, as well as classify explosion sources as neutralizer, sympathetic mine detonation, or both; and lastly to identify technology development risk areas.