VADUM INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A14-034

Description

Vadum proposes to develop an innovative, efficient, high power, and versatile Scalable Integrated RF Current Source (SIRCS). Vadum will leverage expertise in high efficiency, high power RF amplifiers, antennas, programmable sources, and signature extraction along with wide experience in detection and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems. This integrated system will deliver superior performance to the warfighter by extending the range of magnetic field-based detection systems and augmenting GPR and other systems. The Phase I deliverable will be a comprehensive trade study, a complete optimal RF current source design, and a preliminary transducer (antenna) design. The Vadum novel approach attains high performance and low cost by selecting an optimal RF power device, co-designing and integrating the RF circuit with the loop via low-loss interconnect, maximizing RF and loop efficiency, and optimizing back-end signal generation and processing. Finally, this scalable approach accommodates a range of sensor sizes and RF current magnitude, and is capable of being implemented as a dismount system of similar performance.