SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed study is intended to identify the communication require ments for combat operations on usn surface combatants, and apply the lastest technologies available in the communication industry to develop design recommendations for voice, digitized voice, and display systems, as required, to satisfy the communication requirements. The study will result in 1) specification of combat communication requirements, 2) identification of functional design requirements including the specific communication capabilities and features required to be incorporated in the recommended systems, 3) identification of techniques and equipment resources available from the communiation industry capable of satisfying design requirements, and 4) descriptions of recommended systems and conceptual designs expressed in functional drawings of representative components of the systems.

The goal of this study is to enhance the operational readiness of surface combatant ships by improving the design of interior communication systems used by shipboard personnel to command, control, coordinate, and support surface combatant operations. Dramatic changes have occurred over the past twenty years in the complexity and tempo of surface combatant operations. The design of interior communication system has not kept pace with these changes. For the most part, communication systems have remained unchanged in design since world war ii. As a result, inadequacies exist in present systems that are seriously compromising the capability of shipboard personnel to perform their jobs. Yet, during this same time period, the communication industry has made significant advancements in communication technology in both the commercial and military sectors. The purpose of this study is to enable the navy to apply this technology by identifying requirements for improving the design of interior communication systems that are consistent with the task requirements of present and future surface combatant personnel.