U.S. Navy ASW aircraft deploy sonobuoys across a mission field. The aircraft must then stay on-station for the duration of the mission to monitor, command, and received data from the deployed sonobuoys. This requires a clear and uninterrupted channel of communications during all command downlink and data uplink transfers. The sonobuoy RF link is susceptible to interference, jamming, and eavesdropping. The SG-90 link of the AN/SSQ-101B does provide forward-error correction, but the GFSK uplink provides no IA-compliance; consequently, a hostile entity can intercept the sonobuoy data uplink transmissions. The UHF command downlink is similarly unprotected. The Navy has expressed the need for an Information Assurance / Anti-Tampering advanced signal processing capability to be built into its suite of Anti-Submarine Warfare sonobuoys and supporting air platforms. In addition, intelligent power management must be added to extend sonobuoy operating life to support data interrogation by the air platform for up to 72 hours following deployment. The purpose of this SBIR is to introduce IA/AT technology into existing sonobuoy designs that will secure the RF telemetry and command downlink, obscure and protect the sonobuoys processing parameters and capability, and improve mission capability and sonobuoy life by performing signal processing within the sonobuoy itself.
Benefit: The U.S. Navy will acquire an Information Assurance / Anti-Tampering advanced signal processing capability within the sonobuoy. This includes advanced power management techniques and significant reduction in RF uplink throughput. These advanced capabilities will apply to the AN/SSQ-53F DIFAR, AN/SSQ-62E DICASS, AN/SSQ-125 MAC Source, and the AN/SSQ-101 ADAR sonobuoys. The immediate beneficiary of the SBIR technology development will be the MAC program. IA/AT capable sonobuoys will be initially deployed and evaluated from VX-20 and VX-1 P-8A aircraft, as part of the Phase III SBIR. Following successful test and evaluation at the Naval Air Warfare Center, the new sonobuoys will be transitioned to production P-8A aircraft throughout the fleet. The technologies developed for this SBIR are beneficial to other ASW programs outside of MAC. The system concepts have been developed with the intent of transitioning the technology to other ASW platforms to include both real-time and delayed data-recovery scenarios encompassing joint exercises
Keywords: Acoustic Tripwires, Acoustic Tripwires, Sonobuoy, In-Buoy Processing, Sonobuoy Telemetry, Anti-Tamper, Information Assurance
