To improve long-range radio frequency communications, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory are working on a method of combining signals at the receiver level after multiple relays and a single transmitter. The solution is meant to extend line-of-sight communications. Finding an affordable alternative to beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications usually provided by satellites, aircraft or drones is an important priority for the Navy and the Defense Department, says Aaron Cohen, computer engineer and electrical engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory, known as the NRL.
radio frequency
November 20, 2019
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $104,775,349 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract will provide engineering and technical services to support production, lifetime support engineering and in-service engineering for the radio communication system/command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems aboard Navy surface combatants and at associated shore sites.
October 1, 2019
NATO’s Science and Technology Organization took notice of the military potential of same-frequency simultaneous transmission and reception, or SF-STAR, capability employed with full-duplex radio technology, and in 2017 formed an exploratory team to examine the potential use in tactical communications and electronic warfare.
September 24, 2019
Mercury Defense Systems Inc., Cypress, California, is awarded a $13,720,509 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N6833519F0285) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0017). This order is for 27 Type II advanced digital radio frequency memories hardware and software for the Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Reserve components. Work will be performed in Cypress, California (72%); and West Caldwell, New Jersey (28%), and is expected to be completed in June 2021.
August 16, 2019
The modernization, proliferation and commoditization of electronics make contending with peer and near-peer adversaries more difficult, according to Chuck Hoppe, director of science, technology and engineering at the U.S. Army’s Combat Capability Development Command C5ISR Center. “For every good thing we bring out of technology, someone inevitability wants to use it for nefarious purposes. That has been the biggest change in the past 20 years, and it’s what made things significantly more deadly and lethal,” he says.
August 15, 2019
Phase Sensitive Innovations, Newark, Delaware, has been awarded a $10,553,397 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development. This contract will design, develop and demonstrate RF-photonic systems, sub-systems, components and devices for the Coherent Homodyne Integrated RF-Photonic System. Work will be performed at Newark, Delaware, and is to be completed by November 15, 2023. This award is the result of a Small Business Innovation Research III request for proposal acquisition with one offer received. Fiscal year 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $10,553,397 are being obligated at time of award for the effort.
July 15, 2019
Keysight Technologies Inc., Englewood, Colorado, is being awarded a $9,850,400 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for up to 350 radio frequency vector signal generators in support of the Naval Air Systems Command’s Metrology and Calibration Division. Work will be performed in Singapore, and is expected to be completed in January 2026. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $84,432 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; two offers were received.
June 10, 2019
Transphorm, Inc.*, Goleta, California, is awarded $15,869,322 for modification P00002 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-price contract (N68335-19-C-0107) to exercise an option. The option modification procures the continued services and materials necessary to conduct research and development for the United States based dedicated production source of Gallium Nitride Epitaxy for high performance Radio Frequency and Millimeter Wave Electronics.
March 8, 2019
A U.S. military-funded artificial intelligence (AI) contest that wraps up later this year may result in radio devices capable of autonomously and collaboratively sharing radio frequency spectrum for the next generation of mobile devices.
Fifth-generation (5G) cellular services are widely expected to hail a new era of greater speed, reduced latency and the ability to connect many more devices—think smart cities and the Internet of Things—and move vastly more data. The wireless revolution is fueling a voracious global demand for access to the radio frequency spectrum, but managing that increasing demand in a way that avoids interference is a challenge.
February 22, 2019
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, is awarded $33,373,999 for cost-plus-fixed-fee modification P00044 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-16-C-0035). This modification provides for the redesign, integration and test of radio frequency sensors as part of a cost reduction initiative in support of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile. Work will be performed in Wayne, New Jersey (40 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (40 percent); and Orlando, Florida (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2021.
August 1, 2018
The U.S. military is moving an advanced radio-frequency mapping capability from the laboratory into the hands of warfighters. Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the technology will give land-based forces vital situational awareness of the radio spectrum as they fight on an increasingly digitized battlefield.
Facing daily threats in an ever-changing operating environment, warfighters need a quick way to assess the digital topography. And for modern-day soldiers and Marines fighting in dense urban environments, this means having a read on the spectrum.
June 27, 2018
Altamira Technologies Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been award a $24,634,635 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for research and development. The contract will provide cutting-edge research and development of radio frequency (RF) systems and sub-system technology concepts, to provide next-generation RF sensing technologies to external customers and the warfighter. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia; Fairborn, Ohio; and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, with an expected completion date of June 29, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and four offers were received. Fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $200,000 are being obligated at the time of award.
June 10, 2018
BAE Systems Information and Electronic Technology Solutions, Burlington, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $9,286,398 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for radio frequency (RF) emissions made unique and separable/dynamic adaptive neurally-inspired control for efficient RF surveillance software. This effort is focused on developing foundations for applying machine learning to the RF spectrum domain and developing practical applications in emerging spectrum problems to develop vastly improved discrimination performance over today’s hand-engineered RF systems. Work will be performed in Burlington, Massachusetts; Merrimack, Massachusetts; Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; and Reston, Virginia. The work is expected to be complete by June 8, 2021.
April 23, 2018
SilverBlock Systems Inc.,* Leonardtown, Maryland, is awarded a $7,584,576 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for applied research and integration efforts for electro-radiometric improved navigation to add new capabilities to radio frequency operations using geospatial hypotheses product line, to include laboratory, field testing, and integration. Work will be performed Leonardtown, Maryland (50 percent); and Rochester, New York (50 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2022. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $475,244 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured under a broad agency ann
March 1, 2018
The combination of so-called additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, electromagnetic simulation and mechanical design software is enabling innovative antenna and radio-frequency components. Engineers are harnessing these tools to design, fabricate, test and manufacture lightweight, highly complex antennas and radio-frequency products.
March 1, 2018
Melding materials three-dimensionally into state-of-the-art antennas would not be possible without key software platforms. For this, antenna producer Optisys relies on technology from ANSYS Incorporated. Started in 1970 as a small company in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, ANSYS now has 75 offices in 40 countries. As a multiphysics business, ANSYS looks at all aspects of physics design—structural, thermal, fluid dynamics and electronics.
December 11, 2017
Andover, Massachusetts-based Mercury Systems, Incorporated will provide state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) modules for missile defense systems, under a $2.2M defense prime contractor order. The modules will be integrated into a ballistic missile defense radar system using the company’s small form factor packaging of RF microelectronics. "Receiving this new order to support performance-enhancing upgrades for one of our nation’s ballistic missile defense programs underscores the success of Mercury’s next generation business model," said Kevin Beals, vice president and general manager of Mercury’s RF and Microwave group.
August 30, 2017
The military is developing a new battlefield tool that will help ground forces navigate hostile territory without the susceptibility of GPS platforms. Instead, warfighters will use radio frequency signals as a source of positioning information. To display navigational solutions on a map, the tool connects to a smartphone running the Air Force’s Android Tactical Assault Kit.
In conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Sterling, Virginia-based Echo Ridge LLC is designing the technology to fit in a small, low-power package that can be carried by ground operators, according to Mark Smearcheck, an electronics engineer with the AFRL Sensors Directorate.
July 21, 2017
The KeyW Corp., Hanover, Maryland, has been awarded a $23,924,180 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Research to Advance Comprehensive Exploitation of Radio Frequency (RF) Research and Development (R&D) program. This contract provides for the R&D of RF exploitation technology with innovative algorithmic approaches for dynamic and flexible sensing, capable of leveraging all available information to maximize sensing and exploitation performance, to address concurrent detection, tracking, imaging, and classification/identification of targets within contested and challenging environments with singular and distributed sensing architectures.
February 1, 2017
Advances in a plethora of military communication and situational awareness platforms have created unintended repercussions for the U.S. Navy, from the “forest of antennas” that can consume a ship’s deck to the debilitating effects of radio interference that clog airwaves and impede critical links to vessels, aircraft, drones and even satellites. Navy engineers are toiling on a handful of projects to ensure effective and secure communication links, which are so fundamental to military operations.
