Researchers seek to replace amplifiers and antennas with distributed mosaic of communications elements
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers will brief industry later this month on an upcoming project to replace high-power RF and microwave amplifiers and large directional antennas with distributed small antennas and transceiver elements for radio communications.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will brief industry via an online Zoom meeting on the upcoming Resilient Networked Distributed Mosaic Communications (RN DMC) project. Zoom briefings will be from 3:15 to 5 p.m. on Monday 22 June 2020.
The RN DMC program’s objective is to provide long-range communications through mosaic antennas composed of spatially distributed low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) transceiver elements or tiles.
The RN DMC approach seeks to replace high-powered amplifiers and large directional antennas with mosaics of spatially dispersed tile transceivers.
Transmit power is to be distributed spatially among the tiles, while the system is to achieve gain through signal processing rather by use of a physical antenna aperture to concentrate energy.
Individual tiles could use radio frequency (RF) sounding to estimate channel responses and adjust transmit carrier phases to enable the distributed mosaic antenna to form directional beams and spatial nulls in desired directions.
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Industry briefings on the RN DMC project will include 10-minute one-on-one meetings with Program Manager Paul Zablocky via teleconference on a first-come, first-served basis on 24 to 26 June 2020.
Companies interested should register for the online industry briefings no later than 17 June 2020 online at https://sta4.stassociates.com/Registration_RN%20DMC.asp. Email questions or concerns to [email protected].
More information is online at https://beta.sam.gov/opp/535ac78409ed48289316d8179342364d/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
