Wideband and Analog Radio Frequency Fingerprinting At a Distance

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AREA: Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning; Network Command, Control and Communications; TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors; Electronics; Battle Space ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Near Vertical Direction Finding OBJECTIVE: The objective of this topic is to develop applied research toward an innovative capability to dramatically increase Radio Frequency (RF) sensitivity, with the purposes of developing a method to preform passive, analog RF fingerprinting of individual, modern communications devices in real-time at a standoff range. DESCRIPTION: As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable overall system design options with respective specifications on RF linearity, frequency resolution, operational ranges, discrimination capability and protocols and standards in which specified techniques are effective or ineffective. Specifically, this SBIR topic is asking for technologies which go beyond protocol identification by analog characteristics, but rather asking for technology candidates which can delineate individual emitters, within a given protocol. The potential proposers will then study the feasibility of these techniques of a list of the most widely used commercial protocols. Of additional interest is the ability to perform this discrimination across a wide instantaneous bandwidth, across multiple protocols simultaneously. The detection and discrimination should be performed at a standoff range which is to imply that the device being identified is at a distance in which visual identification is not possible. The attached reference presents a good overview, but this SBIR is asking to preform one level deeper of discrimination and at a standoff range. PHASE I: Conduct a feasibility study to assess what is in the art of the possible that satisfies the requirements specified in the above paragraphs entitled Objective and Description. The objective of this USSOCOM Phase I SBIR effort is to conduct and document the results of a thorough feasibility study ( Technology Readiness Level 3 ) to investigate what is in the art of the possible within the given trade space that will satisfy a needed technology. The feasibility study should investigate all options that meet or exceed the minimum performance parameters specified in this write up. It should also address the risks and potential payoffs of the innovative technology options that are investigated and recommend the option that best achieves the objective of this technology pursuit. The funds obligated on the resulting Phase I SBIR contracts are to be used for the sole purpose of conducting a thorough feasibility study using scientific experiments and laboratory studies as necessary. Operational prototypes will not be developed with USSOCOM SBIR funds during Phase I feasibility studies. Operational prototypes developed with other than SBIR funds that are provided at the end of Phase I feasibility studies will not be considered in deciding what firm(s) will be selected for Phase II. PHASE II: Develop, install, and demonstrate a prototype system determined to be the most feasible solution during the Phase I feasibility study on a stand-alone system. The device should be capable of determining individual emitters by their analog characteristics in real-time. These systems may be considered for shipboard, airborne or ground-based applications. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: This system could be used in a broad range of military applications where the need for additional sensitivity of RF emissions is required. This could be used to develop unique broadband signatures using unique broadband signatures (URE) of non-RF devices (i.e Broadband signature of Tesla vs Honda by unique URE of engine systems) or to increase detection ranges. REFERENCES: Laput, G., Yang, C., Xiao, R., Sample, A. and Harrison, C. 2015. EM-Sense: Touch Recognition of Uninstrumented, Electrical and Electromechanical Objects. In Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User interface Software and Technology (Charlotte, North Carolina, November 8 11, 2015). UIST '15. ACM, New York, NY. 157-166: https://la.disneyresearch.com/publication/emsense/ or https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2807442.2807481