Low-Cost Multi-Function Radar System for Attritable Airborne Platforms

OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Trusted AI and Autonomy The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this effort is to lower the overall cost of developing and procuring a multi-function radar system by identifying and leveraging advancements in software-defined RF systems, lower cost AESA antennas and other novel relevant cost-reductive achievements in industry. This will broaden opportunities for small business RF-system developers to produce innovative low-cost designs and provide affordable radars for future small attritable airborne platforms. DESCRIPTION: Current multifunction radar systems onboard various types of small attritable airborne platforms are prohibitively expensive to both design and procure. The proliferation of relatively low-cost software-defined RF systems along with increased maturity and availability of lower-cost Ku-Band AESA antennas have lowered the barriers to achieving a low cost yet high performance multi-function radar system. This Direct-to-phase-2 (D2P2) project will design and model, to a Critical Design Review (CDR) level of maturity, a complete multi-function radar system. The AESA and back-end RF electronics will be packaged and sized for a 6 diameter cylindrical air vehicle. Trades will be made with a keen focus on minimizing flight-unit production cost. PHASE I: As this is a Direct-to-Phase-II (D2P2) topic, no Phase I awards will be made as a result of this topic. To qualify for this D2P2 topic, the Air Force expects the applicant(s) to demonstrate feasibility by means of a prior Phase I-type effort that does not constitute work undertaken as part of a prior or ongoing SBIR/STTR funding agreement. The applicant(s) must demonstrate previous experience in the successful system design, modeling, and hardware specifications of a multifunction radar system for use in an embedded application. PHASE II: Awardee(s) will design and model to a Critical Design Review (CDR) level, a complete multi-function radar system. Emphasis will be placed on lowering the flight-unit production cost to a threshold of $50k and an objective of $30k while meeting or exceeding the RF performance metrics of a contemporary, similarly-sized multifunction radar system. The proposer's design will size and package the AESA and back-end RF electronics into a 6 diameter cylindrical air vehicle. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Following successful completion of the Phase II objectives and the culmination of a CDR-level system design, AFRL and its transition partner will utilize 6.3 funding to implement a prototype of the radar system designed in Phase II and integrate it into a 6.3 flight experiment. TRL gaps will be identified and addressed in order to transition the system to AFLCMC. REFERENCES: 4. ARESTOR: A Multi-role RF Sensor based on the Xilinx RFSoC; Nial Peters, Colin Horne, and Matthew Ritchie; IEEE Xplore: 2 Jun 2022. 5. Prototyping a Radar Sensor based on a Xilinx RFSoC Device for Detect-And-Avoid onboard Small UAV; Valentine Wasik, L. Casadebaig, Benjamin Gabard, Benjamin Gigleux; 2023 20th European Radar Conference (EuRAD). KEYWORDS: AESA; multifunction RF; Radar; software-defined RF; attritables; SUAS