ACRi is happy to announce that it has been awarded a $150k NSF SBIR Phase I Contract. This award is for research on “Reconfigurable Sparse Array Smart Antenna System via Multi-Robot Control”.
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0946027
The abstract of the project can be found at the above link to the official NSF announcement and is also included below:
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project develops and evaluates a flexible sparse array smart antenna system that can be reconfigured through the use of multiple mobile robots. Current robotic systems are limited because they cannot utilize beamforming due to their limited number of antennas and the high computational requirement of beamformers. This pioneering research is made possible through recent breakthroughs for ultralow computational complexity beamforming and multi-mobile robot cluster control. Unlike current beamformers, the antennas in the sparse array will not be physically connected together but instead each robot will have a single antenna. By developing new signal processing and robotic control techniques, robotic communications will be enabled where impossible today due to range, dead spots, or interference. Over-the-air measurements will make it possible to finally evaluate how key issues (distance between robots, geometric shape of the sparse array, etc.) affects system performance.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it can revolutionize commercial robotic systems and other applications in the wireless industry. Enabling multi-robot collaborative communications makes reliable communications possible in worst-case environments. Performance evaluation of sparse arrays will provide valuable insight for collaborative communications for other applications such as distributed sensor networks while the beamformer?s ultralow computational requirement makes it feasible to be added to current and future wireless systems. Creation of a new class of robotic communications will enable robots to be more effective in current applications and create new markets for the robotic sector. The use of robots has increased exponentially with robots increasingly relied upon for defense, law enforcement, and manufacturing, but communication limitations prevent robots from being effective in many situations. Preventing this critical loss of communications for robots searching for people trapped in collapsed buildings or while on scout missions can save lives and have a great societal impact. This research will foster new fields of scientific and technological understanding by enabling Academia and Industry researchers to evaluate the advances made through this pioneering research, which will enable performance optimization for smart antenna systems whether the antennas are physically connected or at different locations.
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The January 2009 issue of National Defense Magazine features on article on ACRi’s research advances. This article spotlights how ACRi’s Non-Eigen Decomposition algorithm can enable UAVs and ground robotic systems to utilize beamforming to gain the advantages of communications reliability, range increase, battery life extension, interference mitigation, and LPD/AJ. The article is entitled “Software Improves Connections to Robots.”
This issue of National Defense Magazine won’t be in stores until next week, but you can read the article online at:
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2009/January/Pages/SoftwareImprovesConnectionstoRobots.aspx
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ACRi members Garret Okamoto and Chih-Wei Chen had a paper published at the 2008 IEEE MILCOM conference. The paper was entitled “Minimal Complexity Blind Interference Mitigation via Non-Eigen Decomposition Beamforming.”
Dr. Okamoto gave a presentation at MILCOM based on that paper on November 18, 2008.
The Abstract of that paper is below:
This paper evaluates the ultra low complexity Non-Eigen Decomposition (NED) algorithm for adaptive interference mitigation. Current blind beamforming algorithms require computational complexity too high for many target applications. NED does not rely on the eignenvalues and eigenvectors used by conventional algorithms and requires significantly less computations, with a total computational load of O(4M-4) per snapshot for a system with M receiving antennas by approximating the cross correlation vector of the received signals in the reference and other antennas. The weight vector is a function of only the cross correlation vector and initial guess and does not require a step size. This technique requires neither a training sequence nor an assumption of incoherency among impinging signals. Simulations show that NED achieves comparable performance as other blind beamforming algorithms in nulling interference sources The smart antenna structure for NED implementation in spread spectrum and OFDM system will also be discussed.
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http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2008/January/ScienceTech.htm
In the January 2008 edition of National Defense Magazine, ACRi and ACRi’s President was mentioned in an article on “Communications Options for Sailors at Sea”.
Navies around the world have begun to take note. Like their land-based counterparts, the sea services have found growing needs to share information, video and other data quickly between forces. Many are considering wireless communications to bring their fleets up to speed.
There are also financial reasons for navies to begin embracing such technologies.
“Once you’ve wired up a ship, it’s expensive to replace those systems,” said Garret Okamoto, president of Adaptive Communications Research, Inc., based in San Diego. Unlike in an office building where ceiling panels can be moved to install newer systems, a ship has an inaccessible structure that is costly to unweld for digital upgrades. Moving to wireless technologies can save navies money in the long run, he added.
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http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2007/August/OverlookedBus.htm
In the August 2007 Edition of National Defense Magazine article on “Overlooked Business Model Could Benefit Small Firms”, ACRi’s President was cited for his development of a technology that permits radio communications in frequency jamming situations.
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The Next-Generation Radio Communications for Defense, Homeland Security, & Public Safety Conference will be held on May 19-20 in Las Vegas. They have some really impressive speakers lined up for the Conference…and one representative from ACRi will be giving a presentation there.
ACRi looks forward to meeting with all of the experts in our field at the Conference!
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Recent Entries
- ACRi awarded $150k NSF SBIR Phase I Contract
- National Defense Magazine Spotlights ACRi’s Research Advances
- ACRi Presents a Paper on NED at IEEE MILCOM
- ACRi Mentioned in National Defense Magazine
- ACRi’s President mentioned in National Defense Magazine
- Presentation at the Next-Generation Radio Communications Conference
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