SBIR-STTR Award

Chaotic modulation techniques represent a new paradigm for communication systems. Unlike conventional sequences, chaotic spreading codes can be generated for any number of users and allocated bandwidth. The development of a chaotic modulator and demodulator for SATCOM communication systems will allow the Warfighter with the capability of increased Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) bandwidth as well as a greatly reduced chance of unfriendly signal detection and interception. TCI''s vision of the end state of this research is twofold: 1) a drop in, militarized satellite modem product which adapts existing links to use chaotic modulation, and 2) a turn-key design and simulation capability to enable the quick and efficient introduction of this technology in new, custom, and retrofit designs. In both cases, TCI and its collaborators will introduce cognitive radio and software defined radio techniques to ensure that the best modulation technique and parameters are chosen at run time for a given link.

Keywords:
Chaotic Satellite Communications, Chaotic Waveforms, Chaotic Sequences, Chaotic Satcom, Chaotic Modulation, Satcom, Lpi, Lpd

Next generation military communication beyond Increment 1 will need to operate in a number of hostile and complex environments. These communication needs include secure relay of imagery data, precedence communications, and dynamic reconfigurability to changing wireless attacks. With increasing use of unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) system, mission success has been come more intimately tie to the ability to communicate reliably and in a timely fashion. The research and subsequent hardware prototype from this research will address many of these needs. The chaos waveform is an inherently low probability of intercept (LPI)/ low probability of detect (LPD) waveform. The research conducted in Phase I of this SBIR and continued in Phase II has transformed these chaos waveform into highly effective and efficient communication waveforms. The chaotic waveform system developed will be able to operate as a secure satellite and airborne waveform as well as a fall back rate for tactical links when jamming prevents update of network situational awareness to the nodes. Additionally, the chaos waveform can be used to provide added security to narrowband legacy and/or commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) waveforms. Last, the potential to use chaotic signal-in-space (CSiS) feature extraction as part of a hierarchical reasoning system is considered.

Keywords:
Chaos, Uwb, Ew, Cognitive Waveforms, Lpi,Lpd, Satcom