DIRECT TO PHASE II: Frequency-Based Persistent Artificial Intelligence Tracking and Surveillance Capability

SBIR topic DON27BZ02-DV026 (U.S. Department of Defense – Navy), Phase I and II. Open to U.S. small businesses. Opens: December 2, 2026. Closes: January 6, 2027. The Navy faces acute operational challenges in intercepting and characterizing covert, highly agile adversarial emissions across dense electromagnetic operational environments. Modern threat systems increasingly utilize Low Probability of Intercept and Low Probability of Detection (LPI/LPD) techniques—such as Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), ultra-fast frequency hopping (UFLH), wideband Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM), Costas frequency coding, and polyphase pulse compression (e.g., Frank, P1–P4 codes)—deliberately depressing emission power densities below the thermal noise floor [Refs 1, 2]. Consequently, conventional Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and wideband radiometer/energy-detection receivers exhibit severe performance degradation, failing to detect stealth radar transmissions, covert datalinks, and distributed sensor relays. This visibility shortfall undermines the tactical sensor-to-shooter timelines foundational to Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) and Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO). To counter advanced stealth emitters, an AI-driven signal processing framework can draw upon several modular algorithmic pathways and candidate techniques, such as: Sub-Noise-Floor Cyclostationary Analysis: For instance, computing the spectral correlation density (SCD) or cyclic autocorrelation can expose covert signal periodicities (e.g., symbol rates, chipping sequences, and carrier modulation artifacts), isolating structured LPI/LPD waveforms from stationary thermal background noise and Gaussian interference [Refs 3, 4]. Time-Frequency Deep Learning Architectures: As an example for intra-pulse modulation recognition, raw wideband In-phase/Quadrature (I/Q) samples can be transformed into high-resolution time-frequency representations—such as Wigner-Ville Distributions…