WIDE BAND - WIDE BANDWIDTH MILITARY LOW BAND TRANSCEIVER

THE PROPOSED APPROACH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE LATEST IN RADIO TECHNOLOGY TO INTEGRATE OVER THE HORIZON (OTH) COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENTS DESIRED BY THE COAST GUARD INTO A NEW MILITARY LOW BAND (MLB, 2-60 MHZ) TRANSCIEVER. THIS DESIGN WILL DEMONSTRATE THE INTEGRATION OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS WITH EXISTING CAPABILITIES, IN THE SPACE AND WEIGHT CONSTRAINTS OF EXISTING HF SYSTEMS. THE IMPROVEMENTS INCLUDE: - MULTI-BAND (2-60 MHZ) OPERATION - LPI/LPD CAPABILITY, WIDE BAND HF (WBHF) IS SUGGESTED AS A POTENTIAL CANDIDATE - METEOR BURST CAPABILITY - EMBEDDED SECURITY - INTEGRATION OF THE PROPOSED RADIO SYSTEM INTO EXISTING LANS AND WANS - ABILITY TO SUPPORT ALL LOS AND OTH MODES IN THE BANDS OF INTEREST THIS IS THE FIRST PHASE OF A MULTI-PHASE SBIR DESIGN TO DEMONSTRATE THE NEW TRANSCIEVER CAPABILITY BY DEVELOPING DESIGNS THAT CAN BE INTEGRATED AND TESTED IN AN EXISTING HF SYSTEM. DURING PHASE I, HIGH LEVEL DESIGNS OF IMPROVEMENTS CONSIDERED CRUCIAL TO THE DEMONSTRATION OF SMALL, MULTI-BAND RADIO WILL BE COMPLETED. SELECTION OF THE IMPROVEMENTS TO BE ADDRESSED WILL BE DECIDED EARLY IN THE PHASE I PROGRAM. ALSO, THE LPI IMPLEMENTATION WILL BE SELECTED AMONGST THE THREE METHODS DESCRIBED IN THE PROPOSAL. THESE INCLUDE WBHF WITH A MINIMUM 1 MHZ SPREADING BANDWIDTH, CODING, INTERLEAVING, AND FREQUENCY DIVERSITY COMBINED WITH ADAPTIVE POWER CONTROL, AND PROPAGATION ESTIMATION IN CONCERT WITH METEOR BURST COMMUNICATION.