N131-059 TITLE: Very Wide Bandwidth Radar/EW Components and Characterization

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PEO IWS 2.0, Above Water Sensors

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: The object is to develop practical, low-loss, high-isolation passive components and associated characterization techniques for very wide bandwidth, high frequency (micro- and millimeter-wave) circuit applications. Materials, design and fabrication approaches will be developed to yield practical passive components. Innovative characterization techniques, employing photonics or other novel technologies, will be developed for improved characterization of such very wide bandwidth, high frequency passive components.

DESCRIPTION: Current research points toward future electronic warfare (EW), communications (comm) and radar systems operating over very wide bandwidths (1 - 110 GHz) with circuits employing emerging active device technologies capable of performance substantially beyond the current state of the art. These new technologies will require innovative passive circuits/components possessing superior performance characteristics (Ref. 1, 2, 5) in order to implement new system capability. Very closely associated with the new hardware itself is the characterization testing of both passive components and active devices in developing systems. Examples of active device technologies include Gallium Nitride (GaN) and graphene; and examples of passive components include transmission lines and interconnects, splitters, and hybrid couplers. To evaluate the performance of these new circuits and components, test circuits employing innovative technologies and components will also be required. Characterizing the high-performance devices will require new techniques that are well beyond the capabilities of conventional methods being used. The Navy seeks passive components and associated characterizations techniques (Ref. 3, 4) that enable improved testing of emerging very wide bandwidth, high frequency technologies.

This topic identifies four important focus areas (A-D below). Projects must address innovative technology within at least one of these focus areas:

A. Generating and sourcing very wide bandwidth signals that characterize emerging active devices and passive components has significant challenges. Commercially available signal generators are limited to less than 70 GHz and provide low power. Due to inherent measurement system losses, the signal power is further reduced prior to reaching the device under test (DUT). The Navy seeks capability to source signals up to 110GHz through one connection, while delivering maximum power to a DUT (Ref. 3, 4).

B. Sensor systems are increasing in capability and performance. The need to source them with complex, very wide bandwidth signals continues to increase with their improvements. Conventional approaches to providing broadband modulation from low frequencies to 110GHz with sufficient power are inadequate. Challenges associated with power loss, isolation and matching exist. The Navy seeks capability to source a modulated signal up to 110GHz over a single connection and provide at least 20dBm of power to the DUT. Low cost, low loss and small size are all factors to consider in development of this technology. They will simplify shipboard maintenance and decrease maintenance costs, while increasing performance. Low loss is expected to contribute to improved energy efficiency.

C. An ensemble of passive components is needed, having optimized materials, low-cost fabrication methodology and accurate high-fidelity designs (Ref. 1, 2, 5). The ensemble of components must perform several functions well. Refer to the DoD SITIS website for basic performance of a minimum ensemble of components.

D. Novel characterization techniques are needed for passive components operating over very wide bandwidth, at frequencies up to 110 GHz. Application of the same techniques to active devices is a plus. Photonic approaches developed under this topic are expected to improve very wide bandwidth characterization and performance of developing shipboard systems. Initial development of novel characterization techniques will focus on demonstrating an industrial version of the technique. Engineering development of the technique should culminate in a deployable version that will simplify shipboard maintenance and decrease maintenance costs while increasing ship systems performance. The end of effort should be a new characterization technology suitable for deployed system use and insertion.

The Navy will provide typical data for demonstration of the effort without requiring secure access.

PHASE I: The contractor will develop concepts for very wide bandwidth, very high frequency passive components and characterization techniques that meet the requirements of one or more of the focus areas (A-D) described above. Contractor will demonstrate feasibility of the concepts to meet Navy needs, and will show that the innovative concepts can be feasibly developed into a useful product for the Navy. Feasibility will be established by testing critical materials or design elements, subscale prototyping and analytical modeling. The small business will provide a Phase II development plan having performance metrics and goals, key technical milestones, and that identifies a strategy to address technical risk reduction.

PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I and the Phase II development plan, contractor will develop prototypes - passive, very high bandwidth components, and/or a laboratory version of their novel characterization technology. Prototypes will be evaluated to determine their capability to meet the performance metrics and goals defined in the Phase II development plan and Navy requirements for very wide bandwidth technologies. Measured prototype performance will be combined with modeling and analytical methods to estimate eventual performance of an initial design in a system application. The company will prepare a Phase III development plan describing a strategy to transition their technology into a Navy system.

PHASE III: If Phase II is successful, the company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the technology for Navy use. The contractor will develop an industrial version of characterization techniques, passive components, or photonic devices for evaluation to determine their effectiveness in a relevant operating environment. The contractor will support the Navy for test and validation to certify and qualify the system for Navy use.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The potential for commercial application and dual use exists in military systems, other government systems, commercial systems for aperture based EW Radars, and communication. In addition, techniques and components developed will find numerous applications in commercial test equipment that is used for high frequency characterization testing.

REFERENCES:
1. Ehsan, Negar; Vanhille, Kenneth; Rondineau, Sébastien; Cullen, Evan D., and Popovic, Zoya B., "Broadband Micro-Coaxial Wilkinson Dividers" IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Tech. vol. 57, no. 11, Nov, 2009.

2. Reid, J. Robert; Marsh, Eric D.; and Webster, Richard T., "Micromachined Rectangular-Coaxial Transmission Lines" IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Tech. vol. 54, no. 8, Aug. 2006.

3. Jiang, Z.; Seo, D.S.; Leaird, D.E.; Weiner, A.M., "Spectral line-by-line pulse shaping" Optics Lett., 30, 2005: 1557-1559.

4. Weiner, A. M. Ultrafast Optics (Wiley, 2009).

5. Yoon, J. B.; Kim, B. C.; Choi,Y. S.; and Yoon, E. "3-D Construction of Monolithic Passive Components for RF and Microwave ICs using Thick-Metal Surface Micromachining Technology," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Tech., vol. 51, no. 1,Jan 2003: 279-288.

KEYWORDS: electronic warfare (EW); very wide bandwidth; ultra-wide-bandwidth (UWB); passive millimeter-wave components; component testing; hybrid coupler; power splitter; transmission lines

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between 16 November, 2012 through 16 December 2012, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting 17 December, 2012, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (13.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 13.1 topic under which they are proposing.

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