Improving I/Q Recording Capabilities
Abstract
Over the past decade, the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology (?Hume?) at Virginia Tech has worked to int,egrate the educational objectives of the university with advanced research in support of our national defense partners. Key innovati,on areas at Hume include the use of software-defined platforms for a variety of missions, development of unique special communicatio,ns waveforms, adaptation of machine learning techniques to RF systems, and unique SATCOM-oriented mission capabilities that support,DoD and Intelligence Community efforts. In all of these areas, the Hume Center emphasizes hands-on applied research at the TRL 3-6 m,aturity range that incorporates cleared/clearable U.S. citizen faculty and students in order to support the research objectives of t,he DoD and IC, while simultaneously performing workforce development for the next generation of enduring STEM talent.Within the Hume, Center, the Electronic Systems Lab (ESL) consists of 15 faculty members and ~120 students undertaking experiential learning activit,ies. ESL has a primary research focus on the DoD?s assured access to RF spectrum ? primary research areas include design and validat,ion of secure communications waveforms, application of machine learning techniques to RF systems, exploitation of cyberphysical syst,ems, support of wideband SIGINT operations, innovation for protected SATCOM links, and, increasingly, development of advanced electr,onic warfare (EW) and radar techniques.Whereas our wide bandwidth prototypes (>120 MHz) are implemented on customer hardware that is, routinely returned / deployed upon completion, this proposal seeks to extend our native ESL capabilities with a multi-purpose wideb,and (1 GHz) real-time signal recorder that supports cap- ture, replay, and post-processing of arbitrary In-phase / Quadrature-phase,(I/Q) content. The re- quested X-COM (Bird) recorder will be used in conjunction with a secure waveform validation testbed (2016 DUR,IP), an electromagnetic materials testbed (2019 DURIP), and a variety of uni- versity-funded computing resources ($800K investment t,his fiscal year in CUI computing) to broaden ESL?s ability to research wideband signals. This IQ recorder will be hosted in our ITAR,- controlled Blacksburg research labs (RB1311, 2024) and be incorporated into projects supporting NRL?s Gallifrey study, PMW 120?s S,PECTRAL program (CACI team), ongoing programs for two IC sponsors, NASC?s Airborne Threat Simulation EA program, and ongoing efforts, for NSWC Crane and NSWC Dahlgren. We also aim to broaden our capabilities and offering in future research via the 1 GHz IBW. We see, this IQ recorder as an enabler to research being performed for existing DoD partners, as well as a foundational capability for matu,ring deliverables for re- search sponsors at NRL, ONR, ONI, N2N6, NSWC Crane, NSWC Dahlgren, Army RCO, CER- DEC S&TCD, DIA/ODNI, and, a host of industry partners. The requested $209K recorder extends approximately $3M in relatedDURIP investment in hardware testbeds, at RB1311.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 08, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212817
Entities
People
- Alan J. Michaels
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Virginia Tech