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SDRC Selected to Develop a Communications Network for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles in LPD/LPI/LPE Environments

SAN DIEGO, California (12/12/2005) - SDRC (San Diego Research Center, Inc.) has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)  to develop a communications network for unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) through a Small Business Innovative Research Phase 1 program.

In this program, SDRC will conduct a thorough comparative study and perform simulations between Radio Frequency (RF), hybrid RF/Free Space Optics (FSO) and purely FSO networks to quantitatively characterize command and control network robustness for the UCAV mission. According to Dr. Bo Ryu, SDRC's Principal Investigator, "Small groups of networked Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), such as the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS), require robust communications to successfully engage in the interactive cooperative missions envisioned for the UCAV "swarm".  The fundamental component for such cooperative operations is autonomous stable, mission-driven communication among players operating in a Low Probability of Detection (LPD)/Low Probability of Interception (LPI)/Low Probability of Exploitation (LPE) environments. "

SDRC's goal is develop robust communication with reliable, available, mission-aware, and survivable networked-communication links capable of withstanding attempts by enemy to detect, disrupt or intercept communication signals.

The Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, entitled "Robust Communications for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (RC-UCAV)," is funded at $98,876 on 12/12/2005.

About the SBIR program: The Department of Defense (DoD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and  Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs fund a billion dollars each year in early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies - projects that serve a DoD need and have commercial applications. SBIR and STTR funds are awarded competitively and small companies retain the intellectual property rights to technologies they develop under these programs.

About SDRC: SDRC is a wireless technology and system development company focusing on challenging and important problems in wireless waveform and media access control (MAC) network protocol development.

About DARPA: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 
is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions.

Media Contact: Ted Balleras (858) 623-9424 ext. 408 or ted.balleras@argonst.com