SPAWAR SBIR Contract Awarded

AUSTIN, TX, May 9, 2012

The U.S. Navy has awarded Kuma Signals, LLC a $150,000 contract to develop a robust high-throughput high frequency (HF) radio for Marine operations through a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. The Phase I project is being funded by the Office of Naval Research and supported by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR).

The key to Kuma’s design is multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), which utilizes multiple antennas to enhance data rate without increasing bandwidth or power. MIMO is a key enabler of modern broadband wireless networks, but has not been applied to HF networks because of questions of propagation and antenna size. In the Phase~I feasibility study, Kuma Signals will answer these questions with respect to near-vertical-incidence-skywave (NVIS), which utilizes the ionosphere to communicate over a 100-mile radius, even in mountainous terrain.

“MIMO is one of Kuma’s core competencies, and applying it to HF radios represents a new challenge in MIMO design,” said Kuma Signals CEO Steven Peters. “This contract represents a paradigm shift in HF communications, enabling spectral efficiencies previously unseen.”