Systems of Systems

DARPA has awarded a contract for the third and final phase of its Advanced RF Mapping program, known as RadioMap, which seeks to provide real-time awareness of radio spectrum use across frequency, geography and time. Akin to smartphone maps that show color-coded current traffic conditions, RadioMap is developing 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.

Today’s interconnected wireless world has led to congested airwaves, making Radio Frequency (RF) management a hot topic. For warfighters overseas, efficiently managing the congested RF spectrum is critical to ensure effective communications and intelligence gathering.

The continued growth in unmanned, sensor, and networked devices is expected to drive the need for larger, more capable and more diverse communications systems. Among other enhancements, these systems must improve jam-resistance and low probability of detection to keep pace with adversaries’ growing electronic sophistication and must adapt to fast-changing operational environments. By contrast, today’s military communications architectures are static and inflexible.

Dr. Joseph B. Evans joined DARPA in June 2015 as a program manager in the Strategic Technology Office. His interests include advanced networking and communications technologies with an emphasis on large-scale wireless, dynamic and cross-domain systems.

Dr. Ted K. Woodwardjoined DARPA in January 2015 as program manager in the Strategic Technology Office. Dr. Woodward has a background in optical and radio frequency (RF) devices, systems and networks for diverse applications. His research interests generally concern the use of optical and RF technology for sensing and communications, and include high-capacity networked systems in particular. Relevant technologies include photonics, millimeter wave RF, distributed coherent signaling (e.g., multiple-input and multiple-output,MIMO), signal processing methods and host platforms, and networking.