Acoustic-based UAS Rainbow Oscillation Refraction Architecture (AURORA)
SBIR Opportunity Analysis
U.S. Special Operations Command is seeking SBIR research on Acoustic-based UAS Rainbow Oscillation Refraction Architecture (AURORA) to enable small uncrewed aerial systems in a swarm to communicate and determine relative positions using sound generated by their propellers. The work centers on an acoustic intra-swarm communications concept that spatially decomposes propeller sound into coherent frequencies that can be modulated for data exchange and used to support decentralized multi-agent swarming and collision avoidance. The feasibility study must examine viable system design options and address omnidirectional transmit and receive performance, reciprocal interference, heterogenous sUAS operation, environmental and Doppler effects, and the constraint that the system not rely on additional oscillators or impede normal sUAS operation. This is a pre-release SBIR topic, with the topic opening on April 15, 2026 and applications due May 13, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC.