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Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Compliant Anti-Jam Waveform for Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Unmanned Vehicle Beyond Line of Sight
Navy SBIR 2016.1 - Topic N161-049 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - dean.r.putnam@navy.mil Opens: January 11, 2016 - Closes: February 17, 2016 N161-049 TITLE: Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Compliant Anti-Jam Waveform for Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Unmanned Vehicle Beyond Line of Sight TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Battlespace, Electronics, Sensors ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS420, LCS Mission Packages The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the solicitation. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. OBJECTIVE: Develop an affordable, innovative Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) compliant waveform to satisfy competing LCS unmanned vehicle Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communication requirements for high data rate, multiple nodes, and anti-jam. DESCRIPTION: The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) deploys multiple Unmanned Vehicles (UVs) in support of the interchangeable mission packages. The Multiple Vehicle Communications System (MVCS) provides LCS mission packages with the capability to simultaneously communicate with multiple Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and surfaced Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) by providing a common data link and network communication services. The MVCS is designed as an open architecture communications system that can be adapted to support any radio. The MVCS currently uses the AN/PRC-117F radio for Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications with USV’s. The LCS Capability Development Document (CDD) has requirements that future spirals of the external communications equipment will be JTRS compliant and must operate in a jamming environment. Currently, there is no JTRS compliant waveform which meets the MVCS BLOS data rate and anti-jamming requirements. This topic is seeking an innovative JTRS compliant waveform that can meet the BLOS communication requirements for high data rate, multiple nodes, and anti-jam for the LCS MVCS. The threshold BLOS data rate requirement is 452 kbps from each Unmanned Vehicle to the LCS seaframe and 9.6 kbps from the LCS sea frame to each Unmanned Vehicle. The threshold number of BLOS unmanned vehicles is 2. The BLOS range is achieved using surface wave propagation. The operating frequency band is 18 to 35 MHz’s. The maximum bandwidth is 250 kHz. The threshold BLOS anti-jamming requirement is that the LCS sea frame and unmanned vehicles communicate in a 20 dB Jammer/ Signal (J/S) power density environment, as measured at the antenna plane of reference, and with the jamming signal being a Continuous Wave (CW) tone, swept CW tone, narrowband noise, wideband noise, clone signal, and pulsed jamming located at any point in the operating bandwidth. Various radio jamming types such as CW tone, swept CW tone, noise, clone signal, and pulsed jamming can break the communications link to the unmanned vehicle by causing packet loss or preventing the receiver from being able to acquire or process any signals. To counter these types of threats, an anti-jamming waveform, adaptive filtering, and fast frequency hopping can be implemented. The current state of art employs these techniques on narrowband radios but not on wideband radios capable of meeting the MVCS data rate requirements. JTRS compliant waveforms will be implemented around open standards architecture, referred to as the Software Communications Architecture (SCA). This core SCA will reduce technology refresh insertion time and lower Total Ownership Costs (TOC) while allowing multiple packaging and channel configurations to match evolving warfighter requirements. Once the JTRS compliant waveform is developed it will be made available through the Joint Tactical Network Center for use on any JTRS compliant radio as an affordable solution for others with requirements similar to LCS. JTRS compliance, for the purpose of this SIBR, relates to the use of the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) to develop a software waveform (Ref. 3). This architecture establishes an implementation-independent framework with baseline requirements for the development of software for software defined radios. The architectural framework was created to maximize portability and configurability of the software (including changing waveforms), and component interoperability (Ref. 2). Waveforms developed within this architecture can generally be realized on JTRS radios with minimal hardware modifications (Ref. 1 and 4). These waveforms are then made available through the Joint Tactical Network Center (JTNC) for use by others with similar communications requirements. An Anti-jamming capability will provide countermeasures to hostile jammers that can render unmanned vehicles useless due to loss of communication and control. Currently the MVCS BLOS communications do not have an anti-jamming capability, so its mission capability is limited in a jamming environment. Its capability will be increased when it meets the requirement that the LCS sea frame and unmanned vehicles communicate in a threshold 20 dB Jammer/Signal (J/S) power density environment. The Phase I effort will not require access to classified information. If need be, data of the same level of complexity as secured data will be provided to support Phase I work. The Phase II effort will likely require secure access and NAVSEA will support the contractor for personnel and facility certification for secure access. PHASE I: The selected company will develop a concept for a JTRS compliant BLOS waveform that meets the requirements described above. The company will demonstrate the feasibility of the concept in meeting Navy needs and will establish that the concept can be feasibly developed into a useful product for the Navy. Feasibility will be established by material testing and analytical modeling. The Phase I Option would include the initial layout and capabilities description to build the unit in Phase II. PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I and the Phase II statement of work (SOW), the small business will develop a prototype JTRS compliant waveform for use on a Software Definable Radio (SDR) according to the Phase II SOW for evaluation. The prototype will be evaluated to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in Phase II SOW and the Navy requirements for a JTRS compliant BLOS waveform. System performance will be demonstrated through prototype evaluation in operationally relevant environment. Evaluation results will be used to refine the prototype into a final design that will meet Navy requirements. The prototype will be delivered to the Navy at the end of Phase II. The company will prepare a Phase III development plan to transition the technology to Navy use. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the JTRS compliant waveform technology for Navy use. The company will assist the Navy with operational testing of a JTRS compliant waveform, used on a SDR according to the Phase III development plan, to determine its effectiveness through the Mission Package Integration Program for LCS in an operationally relevant environment. The company will support the Navy for test and validation to certify and qualify the system for Navy use. The private sector has a need for highly reliable wireless networks. Anti-jamming technology for wide bandwidth wireless networks has applications in police, civil defense, search and rescue, and industrial use wherever critical communications which can be intentionally or inadvertently interfered. One of the biggest risks in using wireless networks in the commercial arena is that everybody shares the same spectrum. The state of Georgia estimates that the Port of Savannah adds approximately $400,000 of economic value every hour it operates. The risk of interference with wireless networks shutting down the port, whether intentional or unintentional, poses a very costly risk to critical national infrastructure. In applications such as this, the additional cost incurred by adding an anti-jam waveform can be easily justified. JTRS requires the waveform be implemented in software so that it can operate on any JTRS compliant software defined radio. Therefore, the waveform could be widely used in both military and commercial applications. REFERENCES: 1. John E. Kleider, Steve Gifford, Keith Nolan, Derrick Hughes, Scott Chuprun. "Demonstrating Robust High Data Rate Capability on a Software Defined Radio Using Anti-Jam Wideband OFDM Waveforms" – MILCOM 2005, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?a 2. Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). "Joint Tactical Radio System Network Enterprise Domain Test & Evaluation – Waveform Portability Guidelines", ver 1.21, 28 December 2009 http://jtnc.mil/sca/Documents/20091228_1.2.1_NEDTE_PORT_GUIDE.pdf 3. Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). "Software Communications Architecture Specification", ver 4.0, 28 February 2012; http://jtnc.mil/sca/Documents/SCAv2_2_2/SCA_version_2_2_2.pdf 4. Donald R. Stephens, Rich Anderson, Chalena Jimenez, Lane Anderson. "Joint Tactical Radio System – Waveform Porting". IEEE, 2008; http://jtnc.mil/sca/Documents/MILCOM/MIL_2008_JtrsWaveformPorting.pdf KEYWORDS: Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS); Joint Tactical Network Center (JTNC); anti-jam waveform; wide band networking anti-jam waveform; Software Definable Radio (SDR); Software Communications Architecture (SCA) TPOC-1: Jay Doane Phone: 850-235-5883 Email: howard.doane@navy.mil TPOC-2: Eric Gadd Phone: 619-553-6041 Email: eric.gadd@navy.mil Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.
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