Army, IARPA post SuperCables BAA

On June 5, the U.S. Army posted a broad agency announcement for SuperCables (Solicitation Number: W911NF18S0009). Proposals are due by 4:00 p.m. Eastern on July 24.

The U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) in partnership with the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) seeks research and development of technology and techniques for energy-efficient, high data rate transmission of digital signals between computing systems operating at room and cryogenic temperatures. The focus in the SuperCables program is research and demonstration of components to convert from low level electrical signals in circuits operating at a temperature of approximately 4 kelvins to conventional optical signals at room temperature and to move the information therein from one environment to the other. Pending results of this program, IARPA may support a follow-on program to develop the complete system for bidirectional data transmission between room temperature and 4 kelvins.

The following technologies may play a role in this advanced transmission system and serve as examples. The list is not intended to be prescriptive or restrictive.

• Electro-optic modulators (EOM).

• Direct electrical to optical converters such as lasers.

• Low loss cryogenic optical components, including lasers, couplers, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) multiplexers, demultiplexers, or contrast enhancing components.

• Special devices required to receive the signal with low BER at room temperature.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps