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Streaming data capture box
Navy SBIR 2006.2 - Topic N06-150 ONR - Ms. Cathy Nodgaard - [email protected] Opens: June 14, 2006 - Closes: July 14, 2006 N06-150 TITLE: Streaming data capture box TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Sensors, Electronics, Battlespace ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Radio Frequency Antennas & Topside Program Manager, code PMW 180-D4/E2 OBJECTIVE: Develop high speed data bus and memory management unit to allow capture in real time of 10-100 Tb data sets representing, for example, several minutes of data arriving at terabit per second rates. DESCRIPTION: Image capture/processing/ and display systems are continually increasing the number of pixels per frame in order to improve the resolution. Indeed a high resolution computer display monitor in 256 color mode needs over 10 Terabits of data per second. Data compression and optical transmission techniques are quite mature once the data has been sensed and massaged by the initial processor, but getting the electronic digital data from the sensor into the processor initially is an issue. Moreover, when data from several imaging sensors is fused, compression must be undone before differences in areas of activity and of pixel area are handled. Compression is also inconsistent with reconstruction of blank/damaged data areas using values from previous/adjacent pixels. Thus development of a higher speed, electronic data input bus is essential. It is also desirable to increase the data storage capacity that can be fed by such an input bus. For example, in many contexts it is desirable to capture RF signals for periods of 10's of minutes using RF receivers that collect at 1 Terabit per minute or more. PHASE I: Design and simulate an electronic bus/memory unit capable of capturing and storing 10 Tbits of data arriving at 1 Terabitps or more. Use of COTS were appropriate is desirable. PHASE II: Demonstrate a preproduction unit capable of capturing and storing 10 Tbits of data at 1 Tbps input rate into a compact memory unit. Design must build-in possibility to cascade memory units to provide longer data records and a scheme to increase the input data rate to 10 Tbps. PHASE III: Such units will find application in imagery fusion and SIGINT systems where they will be useful in image processing and performance testing. Applications in both single antenna and active arrays are foreseeable. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The fusion of imagery is also a commercial process, e.g. in the digital movie industry where animation and live action or multiple exposures are fused. Additionally, the proposed unit should have application in network routing switches where contention (overlapping-in-time presence of multiple signals) is an issue, and deep buffering is required. This is especially likely in switches implementing tiered transmission priorities or operating near capacity. Having a faster digital data bus available would also aid conventional general processor design by providing better interconnects between major components. Better (bigger/faster) memory management schemes can also improve recording equipment including digital cameras. The proposed units would also be useful in searches for extra-terrestrial intelligence where the waveform of interest is poorly defined and in the test equipment market. REFERENCES: KEYWORDS: high speed data capture, image processing, data fusion, data buffering, data bus, data storage TPOC: Deborah Vechten
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