High-Speed Reconfigurable SIGINT (HiReS) System for Large Time Bandwidth Product

Traditionally, a Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) system has required special-purpose hardware (both RF and digital) and custom-design algorithms to rapidly and reliably detect targeted signals of interests known a priori. However, recent advances in wireless communications across the globe, especially low-cost software defined radios and their wide availability, readily allow our adversaries to devise and dynamically change communication schemes and patterns that are inherently much harder to detect using such conventional SIGINT means. Consequently, a new SIGINT system is needed that can process, in real-time, a wideband spectrum (500 MHz+) that will likely contain a mix of known and well-behaved signals as well as unknown signals with unpredictable properties and behaviors.This effort is to develop, implement, and demonstrate a novel High-speed, dynamically Reconfigurable Signals Intelligence (HiReS) prototype system based on a heterogeneous mix of COTS Digital Signal Processing (DSP) hardware components to achieve constant-stare SIGINT capability for 500MHz spectrum. Specifically, HiReS is capable of isolating and classifying 100s of diverse, possibly overlapping signals for multi-functional situational awareness. The innovations of the proposed HiReS system consist of: (i) robust, computationally efficient signal isolation, acquisition, and classification algorithms friendly to parallel processing hardware architecture; (ii) highly parallelized COTS-based signal processing hardware platforms based on a mix of FPGAs, DSPs, and GPUs; (iii) novel signal processing techniques to detect and classify signals with low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs); and (iv) flexible, extensible system design for low-power configuration. The HiReS prototype system to be demonstrate will be utilizing OpenVPX-based components to maximize the transition opportunity while minimizing the development risks.