“Electronic Warfare” and “RF Surveillance”

Background
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is seeking innovative solutions to enhance Electronic Warfare (EW) and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities for naval forces, including the Marine Corps and Navy.

The goal is to control the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) against adversaries who have advanced ISR and EW capabilities, which have created a contested operational environment.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Call N0001424SBC10 aims to address technical challenges in this domain.

Work Details
The contract will focus on several key areas:

1. Dynamic and Scalable Data Representation and Compression of Complex Waveforms for Spectrum Knowledge Sharing: Proposals should aim to create scalable waveform description languages that can dynamically represent RF waveforms while accommodating uncertainties in measurements.

2. Advanced Distributed EW: This includes developing novel signal processing techniques for detecting and classifying agile emitters using a distributed network of sensors. Specific interests include detection of Low Probability of Intercept/Low Probability of Detection signals, precise geolocation, emitter classification, and autonomous optimization of distributed resources.

3. Dynamic EA Technique Formation: Proposals should explore algorithms for dynamically generating Electronic Attack techniques against agile RF threats, including methods for real-time countermeasure effectiveness assessment and FPGA/ASIC reconfigurability.

4. Generative Artificial Intelligence for M&S Scenarios: This area seeks to develop complex modeling and simulation scenarios that accurately reflect real-world dynamics while augmenting training data through Monte Carlo methods.

5. Planning tools for EW/C-ISR effects coordination: Development of tools that assist in threat engagement sequencing and provide probability of success assessments based on operational data is required.

6. Real-time effector execution coordination: Proposals must enable multiple systems to adapt at machine speed to maximize mission effectiveness across platforms.

Period of Performance
The period of performance for projects will range from one to three years.