Same Frequency (SF) Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) Tactical Radios

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS BEING MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ARMY APPLIED SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) W50RAJ-20-S-0001. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM SBIR 21.4 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) Announcement January 27, 2021: ASO issued for pre-release February 25, 2021: Army begins accepting proposals March 24, 2021: Deadline for receipt of proposals no later than 12:00 p.m. ET IMPORTANT Deadline for Receipt : Proposals must be completely submitted no later than 12:00 p.m. ET, March 24, 2021. Proposals submitted after 12:00 p.m. will not be evaluated. The final proposal submission includes successful completion of all firm level forms, all required volumes, and electronic corporate official certification. Classified proposals will not be accepted under the DoD SBIR Program. This BAA and the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) sites are designed to reduce the time and cost required to prepare a formal proposal. The DSIP is the official portal for DoD SBIR/STTR proposal submission. Proposers are required to submit proposals via DSIP; proposals submitted by any other means will be disregarded. Proposers submitting through this site for the first time will be asked to register. The Small Business Administration, through its SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, purposely departs from normal Government solicitation formats and requirements and authorizes agencies to simplify the SBIR/STTR award process and minimize the regulatory burden on small business. Therefore, consistent with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, the Department of Defense is soliciting proposals as a Broad Agency Announcement. SBIR/STTR Updates and Notices: To be notified of SBIR/STTR opportunities and to receive e-mail updates on the DoD SBIR and STTR Programs, you are invited to subscribe to our Listserv by visiting https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login and clicking “DSIP Listserv” located under Quick Links. Help Desk: If you have questions about proposal submission using DSIP, please call the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk at 1-703-214-1333, or email [email protected]. The Help Desk is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. Topic Q&A : From January 27, 2021 to February 25, 2021, this SBO is issued for Pre-Release with the names of the topic authors and their e-mail addresses. During the pre-release period, proposing firms have an opportunity to contact topic authors by e-mail to ask technical questions about specific BAA topics. Questions should be limited to specific information related to improving the understanding of a particular topic’s requirement. Proposing firms may not ask for advice or guidance on solution approach and you may not submit additional material to the topic author. If information provided during an exchange with the topic author is deemed necessary for proposal preparation, that information will be made available to all parties through DSIP Topic Q&A module. Once the Army begins accepting proposals on February 25, 2021 , no further direct contact between proposers and topic authors is allowed unless the Topic Author is responding to a question submitted during the Pre-release period. However, proposers may submit written questions through the DSIP Topic Q&A module at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login. The DSIP Topic Q&A for this BAA opens on February 2, 2021 and closes to new questions on March 10, 2021 at 12:200PM ET . Once the BAA closes to proposal submission, no communication of any kind with the topic author or through Topic Q&A regarding your submitted proposal is allowed. This Applied SBIR Opportunity (ASO) is issued under the Army Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for SBIR/STTR 21.4. All proposals in response to the technical area(s) described herein will be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided under 21.4, found here: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/b79ded14dcf54451bcfb11bddf5cd259/view?keywords=%22army%20sbir%22&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=true&page=1. a. Eligibility The eligibility requirements for the SBIR/STTR programs are unique and do not correspond to those of other small business programs. Please refer to Section 3.1, Eligible Applicants, of BAA 21.4 for full eligibility requirements. b. Anticipated Structure/Award Information Please refer to Section 1, Funding Opportunity Description, provided in BAA 21.4 for detailed information regarding SBIR/STTR phase structure and flexibility. If a proposer can provide adequate documentation to substantiate that the scientific and technical merit and feasibility described in the Phase I section of the topic has been met and describes the potential commercial applications, the Direct to Phase II (DP2) authority allows the Department of Defense (DoD) to make an award to a small business concern under Phase II of the SBIR program without regard to whether the small business concern was provided an award under Phase I of an SBIR program. This ASO is accepting DP2 proposal submissions ONLY. For this ASO, Department of the Army will accept Direct to Phase II proposals for the cost of up to $1,500,000 for a 24-month period of performance. Proposers should refer to Section 4, Application and Submission information, of BAA 21.4 for detailed proposal preparation instructions. Proposals that do not comply with the requirements detailed in BAA 21.4 and the research objectives of this ASO are considered non-conforming and therefore are not evaluated nor considered for award. Under this solicitation companies are able to take advantage of the Army SBIR enhancement program and obtain an additional $1,000,000 consisting of $500,000 in SBIR funding and at least $500,000 in non-SBIR matching funding (Government or private sector). The $1,000,000 addition may be included in the Phase II proposal (with a corresponding technical approach) and, if selected for funding, may be funded as part of the base award or can be brought at any time during the period of performance. Evidence of matching funding must be included in order to take advantage of this option. While firms are encouraged to include in their proposal the work to be performed with the additional $1,000,000 and evidence of outside matching funding, this will not be a criterion for Phase II selection. Phase II proposals shall not exceed 15 pages. Proposers can submit an optional slide deck of 10 slides in Volume 5: Supporting Documents. The slide deck can contain information on the technical approach, the team, commercialization plans, or relevant technology/research the proposers have developed, and it can contain additional/complementary information to the technical volume. If a proposer elects to submit a slide deck, its information will be used in the evaluation process. Please refer to Appendix B of BAA 21.4 for detailed instructions on proposal preparation. Discretionary Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) will not be offered under this ASO c. Evaluation of Proposals Section 5, Evaluation of Proposals, in BAA 21.4 provides detailed information on proposal evaluation and the selection process for this SBO. d. Due Date/Time Full proposal packages (Proposal Cover Sheet, Technical Volume, Price/Cost Volume inclusive of supporting documentation, Company Commercialization Report (CCR), optional slide deck in Supporting Information, and Fraud, Waste and Abuse documentation) must be submitted via the DoD SBIR/STTR Proposal Submission website per the instructions outlined in BAA 21.4 Section 4.3 Electronic Submission no later than March 24, 2021 at 12:00pm ET . A214-002 Same Frequency (SF) Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) Tactical Radios OBJECTIVE: Provide four prototypes adapted from commercial off the shelf (COTS) software defined radios (SDR’s) capable of operating in the same frequency while simultaneously transmitting and receiving (SF-STAR) voice and data from external sources and capable of performing network operations in congested, contested and denied environments. SF-STAR should not be mistaken with adjacent channel suppression. SF-STAR targets suppressing in-channel, external (enemy) interference, while operating SF-STAR at the same time. This solicitation is looking for solutions of suppressing friendly interference, whether co-located in the same platform, or, in the general presence of other potential interfering sources while performing SF-STAR. DESCRIPTION: There is a need for our Army warfighters to be able to share mission critical information from the battlefield like voice, video, and data while operating in contested and congested tactical environments. Frequency spectrum is very limited, especially overseas. In order to continue mission critical communication and share more information, technologies that can increase spectral efficiency are needed. As a result, the US Army is constantly looking for technologies that can reduce interference and improve spectrum efficiency. SF-STAR is a potential solution to this problem and it offers the capability to double the bandwidth capacity for several applications in the DoD community. Benefits of this technology on tactical radio systems include, but are not limited to increased spectrum efficiency, higher bandwidths, and less co-site interference. Full duplex is one of the big promises for 5G wireless communications. The target of this solicitation is to develop innovative radio handheld or manpack prototypes capable of performing SF-STAR when operating in tactical environments. As self-interference is still one of the biggest challenges for SF-STAR, the prototypes should be able to operate in congested, contested, and denied environments where the radios are exposed to both untethered intended and unintended interference. The Army is interested in SF-STAR technologies with a constellation of features that can include but are not limited to the following: Characteristic Threshold (Objective) TX/RS Isolation [dB] 100 (120) Latency [ms] 30 (10) Range [km] 1 (10) Simultaneous Nodes 50 (150) System Final Cost Per Radio [$] 5k (2k) SWaP Vehicle-mounted (handheld) Interference cancellation Static (dynamic) Power scalability (W) 2 (5) Network type MANET (No Infrastructure) Ability to operate multiple bands (e.g.: HF, UHF, L, S, C, Ka, Ku, mmWave) Ability to support multiple bandwidths (e.g.: 1. 2, 5, 10, 20, 250, 500, 1000 MHz) Anti-jam Resilience from high power jammer at 3km PHASE I: This ASO is accepting DP2 proposals only. Proposers must demonstrate technical feasibility of an integrated SF-STAR system to include electronics, firmware, software, and packaging on a commercial of-the-shelf (COTS) software-defined radio (SDR), evaluated for deployment in Army applications. Develop a preliminary system design, model key elements of the proposed radio, and identify subcomponents that demonstrate a clear path to achieving a competitive isolation factor on a mobile testbed. Phase I deliverables include a design review with expected device performance as well as quarterly reports and a final report presenting Phase II plans. Proposals will be evaluated on a holistic basis based on the value they provide to the Army, allowing for solutions with a different constellation of features to be scored based on size, weight, power, cost (SWaP-C), ease of integration into Army systems, modular architecture to allow for easy component upgrades, and scalability to higher power applications and/or handheld solutions. PHASE II: Develop and deliver four minimum viable products (TRL6 prototypes) of a SF-STAR-technology integrated onto a COTS SDR which demonstrates SF-STAR on the move. The total development cost should not exceed $1.5M over the 24-month period of performance. In the first 12 months companies will be asked to validate performance of two proposed systems in a tactical environment in the presence of Electronic Attack (EA). In the second 12-month period, vendors will be asked to demonstrate the technology of the four final prototypes in a tactical environment in the presence of EA. In addition, companies will submit monthly performance reports and a final report not later than (NLT) 30 dates of the end of the period of performance (POP). Demonstrations at the end of each year-long design effort will be conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) and Fort Dix, so companies should include travel costs for these in their proposal. The radios need to be configured in a mounted platform, and the prototypes need to have the capability to tether to two interference sources and handle at least two untethered interference sources (intended or unintended) while operating in SF-STAR. When the radios are configured in a dismounted application, the prototypes should have the capability to handle at least four untethered interference sources (intended or unintended) while operating in SF-STAR. The prototypes should target mitigating interference of 30 dB with a bandwidth up to 20 MHz above the signal of interest (SOI) from untethered sources. The prototypes should be able to mitigate the interference from tethered sources for at least 100 dB at the receiver, not including the antenna isolation between the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX). The prototypes should be able to pass and receive voice without the need of push for talk. The prototypes should be implemented in commercial software defined radios capable of operating at UHF, L, S and C bands and support multiple bandwidths (1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 MHz). The TX/RX path isolation should be enough to not degrade the radio sensitivity level (RSL) of the radio for the bandwidth of operation. Techniques such as analog/digital/antenna/RF cancellation, RF suppression, and waveform implementation could be utilized. SF-STAR technology should be implemented inside the COTS radios operating at the aforementioned bands and bandwidths. Appropriate modifications to the COTS radio hardware architecture and software (antenna, Radio Frequency Front End) and software (algorithms, FPGA firmware, MAC, network layers, etc.) need to be made in order to deliver four prototypes to the Army at the end of phase II. PHASE III: Phase III efforts will focus on integrating into the Army Program of Record Handheld, Manpack and Small Form-Fit (HMS) radios. The SWAP, interference mitigation for tethered and untethered interference, the capability of handling multiple types of interference signals, and techniques for making the waveform more resilient need to be matured to the appropriate technology readiness level [TRL6+] to meet DoD and commercial application requirements. Phase III efforts should extend the Phase II prototype capabilities to be C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) compatible and support additional frequency bands [HF/mmWave]. The Phase III work should also target porting SF-STAR capability to COTS wireless systems such as cell phones. Low-rate production will occur as required. Support Government-sponsored test activities. Potential commercial uses include 6G wireless communications to include doubled spectral efficiency, reduced latency, and improved scalability to mesh networking. Phase III deliverables include system-level integration, technical data packages, and system-level prototype for demonstration and government-sponsored testing. WEBINAR DATES: Wednesday Feb. 10, 2021 @ 1pm **Wednesday Feb. 24, 2021 @ 1pm** (Due to inclement weather the Webinar that was previously scheduled for Feb. 17, 2021 will now be held on Feb. 24, 2021) To learn more about this topic, and ask questions of Army stakeholders involved in the project register for a webinar: https://star_webinar.eventbrite.com Links to video recordings of the webinars will be posted in the DSIP portal in the days following each. KEYWORDS: Self Frequency Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (SF-STAR), Full Duplex, Untethered Interference, Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR), Software Defined Radio (SDR), In-Band Full-Duplex (IBFD), Self-Interference Cancellation (SIC) REFERENCES: 1: Brynn King, Jingjing Xia, and Slim Boumaiza, “Digitally Assisted RF-Analog Self Interference Cancellation for Wideband Full-Duplex Radios”, IEEE Transactions On Circuits And Systems—II: Express Briefs, VOL. 65, NO. 3, March 2018. 2: Manjesh K. Hanawal, Diep N. Nguyen, Marwan Krunz, “Jamming attack on in-band full-duplex communications: Detection and countermeasures”, IEEE INFOCOM 2016 - The 35th Annual IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications. 3: Qianyi Li, Ting-Yen Shih, “Design of a Characteristic-Mode-Based Fully-Planar Antenna for Indoor In-Band Full-Duplex Radios”, 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting. 4: Jie Zhang, Shengyan Li, Jiudong Zheng, Tao Jiang, “Study on Waveform Characteristic for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive used in Multifunction Phased Array”, 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array System & Technology. 5: Protecting Wideband RF Systems in Congested Electromagnetic Environments. DARPA January 22, 2020, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2020-01-22 6: Ashutosh Sabharwal, Philip Schniter, Dongning Guo, Daniel W. Bliss, and Sampath Rangarajan, Risto Wichman, In-Band Full-Duplex Wireless: Challenges and Opportunities, IEEE Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 1637-1652, 2014 7: Kenneth E. Kolodziej, Bradley T. Perry, and Jeffrey S. Herd, Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) system architecture using multiple analog cancellation layers, IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, 2015 8: Gregory Makar, Daniel Kim, Nghi Tran, and Tutku Karacolak, Compact Antennas with Reduced Self Interference for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive, Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 78, 19–31, 2017 9: Kevin L. Scherer, Stephen J. Watt, Elias A. Alwan, Abe A. Akhiyat, Brian Dupaix, Waleed Khalil, John L. Volakis, Simultaneous transmit and receive system architecture with four stages of cancellation, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, 2015