SBIR-STTR Award

Radio Direction Finding Obfuscation
Award last edited on: 1/15/2020

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : Army
Total Award Amount
$671,899
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
A18-109
Principal Investigator
Gerald Lenner

Company Information

Aspen Consulting Group Inc

75 Main Street
Manasquan, NJ 08742
   (732) 722-7878
   N/A
   www.aspenconsultinggroup.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 04
County: Ocean

Phase I

Contract Number: W15P7T-19-C-0001
Start Date: 10/30/2018    Completed: 4/30/2019
Phase I year
2019
Phase I Amount
$99,972
The proliferation of low-cost and highly capable Software Defined Radios (SDR) makes it difficult for the soldier to keep his/her communications systems secure from adversary SIGINT systems that can find, fix and finish radio frequency emitters. Radio communication systems that were not designed with this level of threat in mind are susceptible to exploitation, specifically in the area of geolocation and tracking.Adversary SIGINT systems can choose from a multitude of different geolocation techniques and this diversity of techniques makes it extremely difficult to prevent an adversary from performing geolocation on an otherwise secure communications link.Currently, there are no effective countermeasures to prevent geolocation of tactical radios.Investigation by industry is minimal due to this mainly being a problem for the military. In this proposal the Aspen Team will provide a methodology and will identify several promising techniques that will be explored to obfuscate the location of tactical radios via signal processing and hardware applique modules. Aspen is uniquely postured to investigate techniques to introduce spatial uncertainty into radio communications geolocation systems based on its expertise in RF geolocation, communications, signal processing and waveform generation in support of multiple US Army programs.TDOA,Geolocation,obfuscation,SIGINT,direction-finding,Communications,radio-frequency,localization

Phase II

Contract Number: W15P7T-20-C-0007
Start Date: 12/6/2019    Completed: 8/10/2021
Phase II year
2020
Phase II Amount
$571,927
The proliferation of low-cost and highly capable Software Defined Radios (SDR) makes it difficult for the military to keep communications systems secure from adversary SIGINT systems that can choose from a multitude of different geolocation techniques to find, fix and finish radio frequency emitters. Currently, there are no effective countermeasures to prevent geolocation of military communication systems. Investigation by industry is minimal due to this mainly being a problem for the military. In this proposal the Aspen Team will build on the results of the Phase I SBIR effort and will develop, demonstrate and deliver a prototype based on a technique that was demonstrated over the air in Phase I. Aspen will also explore transition to other devices as hardware and software insertions or as an applique and will continue to refine other developed Phase I techniques for integration. Aspen is uniquely postured to investigate techniques to introduce spatial uncertainty into radio communications geolocation systems based on its expertise in RF signal geolocation, communications, signal processing and waveform generation in support of multiple DOD programs.