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Digital Early Warning Receiver (EWR) for the Next Generation Submarine Electronic Warfare (EW)
Navy SBIR 2016.1 - Topic N161-025 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: January 11, 2016 - Closes: February 17, 2016 N161-025 TITLE: Digital Early Warning Receiver (EWR) for the Next Generation Submarine Electronic Warfare (EW) TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Battlespace, Electronics, Sensors ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS 435, Submarine Electromagnetic Systems; SIRFSUP FNC 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 a digital Early Warning Receiver (EWR) for the Next Generation Submarine Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite. DESCRIPTION: The Navy uses undersea platforms in many applications where covert, extended persistence is required. The next generation of submarine EW is developing a framework that distributes digital data products to reconfigurable data consumers. The current Early Warning Receivers (EWR) on submarines do not fit this architecture. The submarine fleet is looking for a digital EWR that will provide digital data products to the control room, the Electronic Support (ES) room, and the AN/BLQ-10B (V) electronic warfare system. The EWR is a critical component in the submarines sensor suite and is considered a "safety of ship" item. It is imperative that it works at all cost. Currently, the EWRs on submarines are crystal video detectors. They are very dependable and rugged, but there are significant problems with these types of receivers. Some of these issues include an inability to report to operators any signals outside of the audible range of humans, inability to identify complex intrapulse modulations, inability to identify/display complex emitter patterns, and many others. The digital EWR has to exhibit tremendous sensitivity (less than ~70 decibels or below 1 milliwatt (dBm) in a 1 GHz instantaneous bandwidth) and multi-tone Spur Free Dynamic Range (greater than 70 decibel (dB) in a 1 GHz instantaneous bandwidth). The digital EW receiver has to operate in extremely dense environments (greater than 5 million pulses per second) and provide Pulse Descriptor Words (PDWs) for every detected pulse to a high-speed network (currently 40 gig-ethernet, moving to a 100 gig-ethernet). The digital EW receiver has to operate in environments with strong continuous wave (CW) interferers without being captured and has to operate with different mast inputs for the RF sources. The digital EW receiver has to operate over an RF range of 250 MHz to 20 GHz and be scalable upward in 20 GHz sections. Currently, the submarine force has introduced very capable EW receivers that are much more effective against the higher Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF), lower power emissions of today, but they do not fit into the Next Generation Submarine EW Architecture. The new, digital EW receivers need to provide digital data products for other consumers to utilize. Currently, the receivers are self-contained boxes that drive displays and speakers. With submarines moving to all-digital data products (sonar has ARCI, combat control is moving to Any Display Anywhere, and Electronic Support Measure (ESM) is moving to the Next Generation Architecture for sub EW) the need to get the EW receiver into this digital availability is crucial. By moving EWR to digital data products, the Navy can save money and maintenance by utilizing existing display surfaces instead of adding their own. The Phase II and Phase III effort will require secure access, and NAVSEA will process the DD254 to support the contractor for personnel and facility certification for secure access. 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. PHASE I: The company will design and demonstrate, through simulation or limited lab testing, the feasibility for developing a modular, digital Early Warning receiver concept that meets the requirements stated in the Description section. Phase I Option, if awarded, would include the initial layout and capabilities description to build the unit in Phase II. PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I effort and the Phase II Statement of Work (SOW), the company will develop a digital Early Warning receiver prototype for the candidate system developed in Phase I. The company will develop and refine RF processing and digital data generation, perform bench level lab experiments to demonstrate performance, and demonstrate this capability in a representative form factor as a minimum. Companies participating in Phase II will be required to prepare a plan to transition the technology to the Navy under Phase III. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the digital Early Warning system to the AN/BLQ-10B (V) program of record through PMS435 Submarine Electromagnetic Systems program office. A modular digital EW receiver to significantly improve submarine survivability in the future through the ability of making the digital data products (representing the RF spectrum) available to any display will significantly improve submarine situational awareness. The option of digital EW receiver technology should prove useful in many applications. The more specific digital EW receiver has applicability to homeland defense, law enforcement, and private-security systems. REFERENCES: 1. Wiley, Richard G., ELINT: The Interception and Analysis of Radar Signals, Artech House, 1993; http://www.artechhouse.com/uploads/public/documents/chapters/Wiley_925_CH04.pdf 2. Volakis, John (Editor), Antenna engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2007 (Chapter 47, Kellog, Robert; Mack, Eldon; Crews, Cathy, Direction finding Antennas & Systems); http://accessengineeringlibrary.com/browse/antenna-engineering-handbook-fourth-edition 3. Improved algorithm for the deinterleaving of radar pulses, Milojevic, D.J.; Popovic, B.M.; Radar and Signal Processing, IEE Proceedings F, Volume 139, Issue 1, Feb. 1992 Page(s):98 � 104. 4. A new approach to deinterleaving for radar intercept receivers, Frankpitt B.; Baras J.; Tse A., Radar sensor technology. Conference 2003, vol. 5077, pp. 175-186. KEYWORDS: Electronic Warfare; digital signal processing; Submarine next generation EW architecture; early warning receivers; Doppler radar signals, High PRF radar systems TPOC-1: Steven Henry Phone: 401-832-7849 Email: [email protected] TPOC-2: Jeffrey Carvalho Phone: 401-832-3527 Email: [email protected] Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.
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