The Department of Defense, specifically the United States Air Force, is seeking proposals for the Small UAS MANET Antennas project under the SBIR program. The objective is to develop a system that enhances the range of air-to-air or air-to-ground data connections to up to 50 miles, utilizing a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) radio operating in the S-band on small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) weighing less than 75 pounds. This initiative addresses the operational limitations currently faced by small UAS, which are often restricted to short-range surveillance roles due to existing communication range constraints. Proposals are due by May 21, 2025, with the opportunity being open for submissions starting April 2, 2025. Interested parties can find more information and submit proposals through the official SBIR website.

OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Integrated Sensing and Cyber The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. OBJECTIVE: Develop a system capable of increasing the range to up to 50 miles of an air-to-air or air-to ground data connection of 1mb/s while using a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) commercially available radio operating in the S-band on a small (<75lbs) unmanned aerial system (UAS). DESCRIPTION: Numerous government and commercial groups have experienced the multitude of benefits of MANET radios operating in the S-band to control and communicate with small UAS. Unfortunately, the current range of these types of radios greatly limits their operational capabilities. Currently most operations are conducted at a range of less than five miles, but the capability of air launched small UAS exceed this by orders of magnitude. They are unable to exercise this range because of this limitation and have been mostly relegated to close-in surveillance roles where their loiter time is still useful. For several existing current and future operations, a greater stand-off between the small UAS and a larger airborne asset it is communicating with is greatly desired. The operational benefits of MANET radios are enough to continue utilizing them, but the government needs to develop a system to increase their range to meet emerging needs. The technical challenges include integration into small form factor UAS which drives both weight and physical size restrictions, as well as easily integrating with existing commercial radios. Most UAS of this class are tube launched from a standard ~6in diameter launch tube, which also drives integration challenges because of the streamlined shape this class of vehicles requires to fit inside and launch from the tube. One of the limitations with most current systems is the difficulty of integrating capable antenna designs into a streamlined tube-launched system. Its also to important to consider the orientation of the airborne assets to each and ways those might limit the capability of an antenna system. A number of larger systems are integrating beyond line-of-sight systems that use other communications networks to pass data between MANET nodes and that could be a technical approach to this problem if the integration challenges were met. For security reasons, any data transmitted must be encrypted to AES 256, but purposefully there are no other restrictions on the transmission method or system to allow for various technologies to be proposed. Commercial companies have only focused on quality of communications as the main use for these vehicles in the past has been below cloud cover surveillance. As they get longer legs and new capabilities, quality becomes less important then range at which command and control can be extended. As those are different use cases, development is needed to investigate the technology required to optimize for range. PHASE I: This is a Direct to Phase 2 (D2P2) topic. Phase 1 like proposals will not be evaluated and will be rejected as nonresponsive. For this D2P2 topic, the Government expects that the small business would have accomplished the following in a Phase I-type effort via some other means (e.g. IRAD, or other funded work). It must have developed a concept for a workable prototype or design to address at a minimum the basic capabilities of the stated objective above. Proposal must show, as appropriate to the proposed effort, a demonstrated technical feasibility or nascent capability to meet the capabilities of the stated objective. Proposal may provide example cases of this new capability on a specific application. The documentation provided must substantiate that the proposer has developed a preliminary understanding of the technology to be applied in their Phase II proposal to meet the objectives of this topic. Documentation should include all relevant information including, but not limited to technical reports, test data, prototype designs/models, and performance goals/results. PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a system communicate data reliably over a commercial S-band MANET radio air-to-air from a small UAS to another airborne system at a range of at least 50 miles or air-to-ground between ground operators and small UAS. i. Develop and demonstrate a system, compromised of one or more pieces of equipment, that is capable transmitting data at 1mb/s from a small UAS to a ground-based operator or another larger airborne asset ii. The system should be designed to be integrated into a small UAS (<75 lbs) that is tube launched (<6in diameter) iii. The system should account for differing orientations between the small UAS and the ground or air based asset it is communicating with iv. Develop matrix of operational tradeoffs relating to employing the new system that includes impacts power consumption, cost, weight, and size v. Generate Interface Control Document (ICD) and overview descriptions in parallel with the system development. vi. System needs to be encrypted or easily capable of being encrypted using AES 256. Complete the design of the system, demonstrate performance of a prototype system through field testing, and deliver the prototype for subsequent evaluation by the government. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The Government has an interest in transition of the demonstrated concept to current small UAS operations for surveillance and strike. Solutions may have application to commercial crop survey operations as well as disaster response for emergency personnel and firefighters. REFERENCES: 1. Perez, Mariano Negron, SAR Image Formation with embedded QPSK communications in LFM guardbands and UAV antenna characterization https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD1173453 2. Paula Paloma Sanchez Dancausa, Jose Luis Masa-Campos, Pablo Sanchez Olivares, and Eduardo Garcia Marin, "Omnidirectional Conformal Patch Antenna at S-Band with 3D Printed Technology," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 64, 43-50, 2016. 3. J. Peng, W. Tang and H. Zhang, "Directional Antennas Modeling and Coverage Analysis of UAV-Assisted Networks," in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 2175-2179, Oct. 2022 KEYWORDS: antennas, conformal antennas, directional antennas, S-band, MANET, UAV, communications, command and control, long range, small UA

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