Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF161-108
Physical Optics Corporation — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.
- Amount
- $149,992
- Agency
- Department of Defense · Air Force
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- AF161-108
- Solicitation
- 2016.1
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- 2016-08-04 → 2017-04-11
Description
ABSTRACT: To address the Air Force need for innovative, cost-effective techniques for antenna electronic beam steering feasible for use in small missile radar seekers, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new electronic Beam Steering Enhanced Antenna Array (BEAST). The BEAST requires only one phase shifter for an N-element antenna and will take advantage of POCs barium strontium titanate (BST) technology. The innovation in BEAST enables reliable, low-SWaP, (size, weight, and power), inexpensive electronic beam steering with limited constraints on the small missile radar seeker. The antenna elements of BEAST are monopole, multiband conformal antennas that are optimally designed for 17 GHz and 34 GHz. Phase I focuses on conceptual design of the innovative cost-effective low-SWAP beam-steering techniques; POC will perform system design, and will evaluate the techniques against factors such as beam forming capability, gain, size, weight, power, cost (SWaP-C) and radiation characteristics such as field of regard (FOR), instantaneous field of view (IFOV), beam width, spectrum, and pattern tuning. In Phase II, POC will develop and demonstrate the technique through a prototype antenna and relevant drive electronics. POC will also prepare a transition plan and evaluate BEAST in a representative platform environment at TRL-5/-6.; BENEFIT: The BEAST can be used in a broad range of civilian commercial applications, such as automotive collision avoidance radar or adaptive cruise control technology, emerging gigabit wireless personal communication systems for high-bandwidth data transfer of multichannel streaming video, graphic imagery, medical imagery, voice, and sensor data. It can be used in base stations to enhance the signal coverage in a particular area while minimizing interference to other areas. Furthermore, it can be mounted on trains and other vehicles for wideband communication such as WiMax, digital TV, and satellite communications.