This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will use and adapt a photonic signal processor for extreme bandwidth spread spectrum wireless communications. The intellectual merit of the proposed project focuses on applying prior knowledge and the core photonic analog optical signal processing technology with new approaches and extensions of spread spectrum techniques to an important emerging commercial application, namely high bandwidth wireless communication at high frequencies. The widespread demand for wireless communication has created contention for RF spectrum, and has motivated extending communications to unlicensed bands and higher frequencies. The objectives of the project are to 1) perform transmitter analysis and encoding schemes, 2) to show spread spectrum communication functionality in laboratory hardware based demonstrations over the frequencies of 3.1-10.6 GHz, and 3) to study desired parameters and tradeoffs for the implementation and commercialization of communications links. The anticipated results of the research are demonstrations that show these capabilities, with increased knowledge of the requirements and tradeoffs of the proposed technique.

The broader impact / commercial potential of this project are in the field of wideband, wireless communications. From this technology development effort, there are significant market opportunities for the emerging 60-90 GHz E band wireless market. The enabling photonic signal processing technology has applicability for commercial, military and intelligence community in the form of full spectrum surveillance, spectrum analysis, direction finding, navigation, and imaging, along with the proposed communications approach proposed. Benefits of the proposed communication approach include transmissions at high data rates, asynchronous burst mode operation, providing secure, low probability of intercept transmissions and overcoming multipath issues.

Project Report

The SBIR effort by S2 Corporation and Montana State University represents an innovative photonics enabled sensor approach with a relatively high risk and high payoff program addressing the needs of the global community for flexible point-to-multipoint wideband wireless communications, and in the near term specifically for covert operations of one-way point-to-point communications. Our Phase 1 effort established the S2 communications concept with a set of proof-of-concept experimental demonstrations on in house operational hardware, with over 4 GHz of bandwidth in the UWB band between 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, and additional technique trade studies. We worked toward a novel RF communications system with a wide open RF aperture and flexibility in bandwidth, modulation format and carrier frequency. The impact is in having burst mode communications, high adaption to spectral contention, having high data rates, being able to operate covertly with very large spreading codes, and robustness and multi-user in using multiple spreading codes. Bit rates can vary from very high (10 Gb/s) or to much lower values depending on the implementation tradeoffs. We aim to demonstrate and transition a proven capability to an entirely new product or platform – a flexible and adaptable extreme bandwidth analyzer and correlator (EBAC) hardware suite, which is suited to a new and large impact commercial and defense application – high-bandwidth and covert communications. The degree of freedom in the proposed scheme allows high data rates, burst mode transmissions, and covert transmissions. The hardware demonstrations utilized a Spatial-Spectral Holographic (S2) based EBAC in our facilities. In operation, the new communications module could be added onto our already implemented S2 EBAC spectrum analyzer and direction finding system, Longer term, mapping out the scaling and degrees of freedom of this approach remain as objectives, along with a full analysis and further demonstrations of the extreme wideband spread-spectrum signal processor, based on an analog compressive receiver. Design flexibility of the system, allows for operation on any frequency, communications band, or bandwidth and allows for choosing frequencies, bandwidths, and codes on the fly - on every packet if needed. Further, transmitted reference spread spectrum techniques, where the reference can be transmitted together with the data packets or separately on an entirely other degree of freedom (e.g. different times, different frequency bands, andor different RF polarizations) makes computation complexity for a possible eavesdropper or spectrum surveillance receiver overwhelming. In all these cases, the S2 correlator shows the capability to directly process direct-sequence, phase modulated andor frequency hopping spread spectrum communication signals. We have identified a Phase 2 effort that would expand upon this work, and perform a full technology study, further modulation and demodulation algorithm development, and hardware development and system refinement. This would be followed by a packaging and full range testing effort of any band communication, including performance and transition path to both commercial and military end users.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1143361
Program Officer
Juan E. Figueroa
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2012-01-01
Budget End
2012-06-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$149,844
Indirect Cost
Name
S2 Corporation
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Bozeman
State
MT
Country
United States
Zip Code
59715