Multifunction RF (MFRF)

Abstract

The Multifunction RF (MFRF) program goal is to enable U.S. rotary wing aircraft forces to fight effectively in all forms of severely Degraded Visual Environments (DVE) when our adversaries cannot. The program goes beyond landing aids in DVE to address all elements of combat to include landing, takeoff, hover/taxi, enroute navigation, lethality, and survivability. Building on previous RF sensors advancements, the program will seek to eliminate many redundant RF elements of current independently developed situational and combat support systems to provide multifunction capability with flexibility of adding new mission functions. This will reduce the overall size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) of subsystems and protrusive exterior antennas on military aircraft, enabling greater mission capability with reduced vehicle system integration burden. The program approach includes: (1) development of synthetic vision for pilots that fuses sensor data with high-resolution terrain databases; (2) development of Advanced Rotary Multifunction Sensor (ARMS), utilizing silicon-based tile arrays, for agile electronically scanning technology at low SWAP-C; and (3) implementation of software development kit to re-define modes as required by mission or platform needs, and ease of adding new modes via software without hardware modifications. The program is planned for transition to the Army and Marines.

Document Details

Document Type
Accomplishment
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2017
Source ID
de202686ac320b752c36409c23168d4b

Tags

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Phased Array Antenna Design.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems

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