DARPA selects research teams for WARP programme

from Carlo Munoz

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has formally selected several research teams to lead the agency’s work in developing technologies to expand and improve broadband software capabilities for radio (SDR) in the U.S. military.

Teams from industry and academia will “explore a diverse set of technological approaches” in the field of broadband interference (RF) interference for current and future SDR platforms as part of broadband adaptive RF protection (WARP) ), said in a statement employees of the agency.

“Broadband software-defined radio systems provide unprecedented access to radio spectrum and are beginning to spread throughout [US Department of Defense – DoD] and commercial applications as a result. “Unfortunately, as the bandwidth increases, the dynamic range tends to decrease, which affects the sensitivity and performance of the radio,” said DARPA officials.

A U.S. Army support operator operates AN / PRC 1510 high-frequency radio in Fort Gordon, Georgia.  (US Army)

A U.S. Army support operator operates AN / PRC 1510 high-frequency radio in Fort Gordon, Georgia. (US Army)

In an effort to reduce this dynamic range reduction while maintaining enhanced broadband capability for SDR, WARP staff are investigating advanced use of adjustable filters and signal cancellers “to manage external interference as well as … to deal with interference”. , in these radio platforms, agency officials explained.

In particular, WARP research teams will plan and perform experimental work on inherently switched electromagnetic (EM) resonator technologies, as well as multiferroics, acoustics, and photonics, to enable tuning of the frequency filter and SDR signal cancellation capabilities. systems. These technologies will be combined with “new circuit architectures, integration of heterogeneous devices and advanced RF packaging”, which will provide SDR operators with adaptive management of these RF settings and signal cancellation capabilities, according to DARPA.

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https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/darpa-selects-research-teams-for-warp-programme

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has officially selected several research …