Advanced Survivable Interceptor Modem

With the heavy infusion of commercial of the shelf (COTS) components into modern space and strategic avionics packages there is significant need to enhance component performance while establishing a high probability of mission success for operations in natural and nuclear weapon generated ionizing radiation environments. One component critical to the Ballistic Missile Defense System is the interceptor modem which maintains in-flight communications between the Fire Control and Interceptor/Kill Vehicles such as the Ground-based Missile Defense – Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (GMD-EKV), Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), and Multiple Kill Vehicle/Carrier Vehicle (MKV/CV). It is critical for these systems that communications be reliably maintained for operations conducted in a fading channel environment perturbed by nuclear weapons effects. For this Phase II SBIR, Amtec is teamed with Rockwell Collins to further the ability of the Advanced Survivable Interceptor Modem (ASIM) design to address MDA-STD-001 classified environment survivability. Improvements will be gained through the application of survivability and reconfigurability design enhancements including implementation of State of the Art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. This SBIR will address the radiation hardness of the ASIM, and identify, implement and test specific strategies leading to a hardened, reconfigurable design.