Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: To address the Army"s need to reliably characterize the radio frequency (RF) spectrum

Description

To address the Army"s need to reliably characterize the radio frequency (RF) spectrum in an area and provide the data in real time to a central control over bandwidth-limited communications channels, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Wideband Intelligent RF Spectrum Detection Exploitation and Monitoring (WISDEM) system. Wideband signal collection and processing hardware enables continuous monitoring (<0.5 ms) of signals with up to 2.5 GHz instantaneous bandwidth in the 2 MHz->6 GHz frequency band. Intelligent signal processing architecture and algorithms, capable of adapting to a dense, complex RF environment, enable high spectral data compression for transfer over band-limited datalinks, while simultaneously ensuring no loss of information. WISDEM provides real-time frequency, amplitude, bandwidth, line of bearing, and time-stamp of signals, which directly addresses the solicitation requirements for an advanced spectrum monitoring system. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of WISDEM with scaled-down laboratory prototyping, identify a path to produce a rugged, survivable, field system, and estimate cost for small-run production. In Phase II, POC plans to develop a low-cost prototype receiving system for the full 2 MHz6 GHz spectral band and document the capability improvement at the Electronic Proving Ground (EPG) range.