SBIR/STTR Opportunity: Distributed mm-Wave Full Duplex Two-Way Time Transfer

DARPA seeks proposals through its SBIR/STTR Broad Agency Announcement for innovative research concepts in distributed millimeter-wave full duplex two-way time transfer. Proposals are due October 10, 2019 and must demonstrate feasibility of synchronizing wideband millimeter signals at 30 GHz with 10 GHz bandwidth between fast moving platforms experiencing high Doppler shifts. Awards of up to $2.25 million will be made in two phases not exceeding $1.5 million for the base period of 18 months and $500,000 for the option period of 12 months, with an additional $250,000 option for potential participation in the Embedded Entrepreneur Initiative.

No set-aside designation is used. Successful proposals will establish frequency-phase alignment at millimeter waves through a low-latency analog radio frequency front end to achieve coherence up to Ka band under Mach 2 velocities with less than 10 seconds latency and 20 picosecond timing error over 30 seconds. Evaluation will ensure these objectives are met to synchronize signals between platforms moving at such high speeds experiencing significant Doppler effects.