Vencore Labs begins third phase of DARPA’s RadioMap program

Vencore, Inc. of Chantilly, VA announced on September 21 that its innovative research arm, Vencore Labs, received a $5.0 million award for phase three of the Advanced Radio Frequency (RF) Mapping (RadioMap) program, which is supported by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Under the terms of this program, Vencore Labs intends to develop technological innovations enabling the Department of Defense to improve situational awareness of radio frequency spectrum usage in battlefield scenarios.  Vencore Labs will be responsible for developing software associated with (i) distributed command and control (C2), (ii) management of the RadioMap tasking, and (iii) software agents for C2 of RadioMap tasks on RF platforms.  Vencore Labs performs as a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin on this program.

RadioMap is intended to deliver an unprecedented level of RF information without requiring the deployment of additional radio equipment, and without interfering with the primary mission of existing radio equipment.  Similar to maps that illustrate current traffic conditions, RadioMap intends to develop technology that visually overlays spectrum information on a map enabling rapid frequency deconfliction and maximizing use of available spectrum for communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems.

“We are proud to have been involved with this highly innovative program since its inception,” said Petros Mouchtaris, PhD, president of Vencore Labs.  “Vencore Labs plans to continue expanding the capabilities and maturing the technology we developed for phases one and two of this effort.  This third phase includes plans for testing RadioMap on RF-capable equipment that is typical in current forward-deployed environments, along with a field test and demonstration.”

U.S. military departments have been monitoring and evaluating this DARPA-sponsored program, and, upon continued success, may transition the technology for operational use. Planned phase three innovations include developing a management system for monitoring task status and radio position, and opening the system for third party development to incorporate as-yet unknown RF devices.

Source: Vencore