The airborne tier of our military's communications network plays a critical role in enabling real-time situational awareness, allowing warfighters to synchronize their operations both on and off the battlefield. As the number of users sharing broadband data grows, new technologies are required to mitigate radio frequency (RF) interference for airborne relays and network subscribers. A robust and unified solution must include subsystems that address detection and mitigation of interference at every tier of the protocol stack.As the final element in the RF transmit chain and the first element in the RF receive chain, the antenna plays a critical role in establishing the sensitivity of an RF transceiver. By incorporating hardware-level interference mitigation, the antenna is uniquely capable of protecting the transceiver against high-power interference while also preserving its ability to operate over its entire operational spectrum. For this reason, interference-mitigation techniques implemented in the physical (PHY) layer of the protocol stack are an especially important piece of a robust solution to minimize both cosite and off-platform sources of interference.During Phase I, FIRST RF will demonstrate the practical capabilities of hardware-based interference mitigation systems and explore adapting this approach to provide a universal RF interference-mitigation and anti-jam (RIMA) solution.
