N121-052 TITLE: Data Compression for Bandwidth Constrained Environments

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Ground/Sea Vehicles

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Virginia Class PMS 450 (ACAT I)

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Improve the efficiency of data collection and distance support systems through the use of advanced data compression techniques and bandwidth optimization strategies.

DESCRIPTION: Troubleshooting and support of electronic systems aboard US Navy submarines could be greatly improved by an efficient and meaningful off-hull support system. Currently, the support system does not use sufficient data compression techniques and therefore incomplete message traffic is transmitted and data packets are lost, which decreases the accuracy and efficiencies of the system. This SBIR will investigate and develop a key enabler for submarine distance support-data compression techniques and bandwidth optimization strategies for the transmission of subsystem health and status data. Unlike surface ships, submarines face unique bandwidth constraints due to their limited number of communications antennas and time spent with those antennas above water. As a result, submarine subsystems generally do not transmit health and status data off-hull. If it is collected, this data is stored natively and off-loaded in port. This topic is to develop data compression techniques and/or bandwidth optimization strategies that will enable the reliable transmission of such data off-hull in the current bandwidth-constrained environment.

Due to the data throughput rates of submarine communications hardware and the relative priority of health and status data to other more critical data, an innovative solution that will maximize data transmission through available bandwidth is required. Commercially available data compression algorithms alone are not sufficient to transmit required information across the available data link. Unique research and development will be required to achieve the required data compression threshold to transmit data off-hull through current communications hardware. A combination of data compression algorithms and bandwidth optimization strategies may be required.

The work in Phase II may require access to classified information because of the nature of the data to be processed. Phase I efforts would not need secure access and would be unclassified.

PHASE I: The company will develop concepts for improved communication of health and status data through currently existing hardware. This will involve the investigation of data compression algorithms and bandwidth optimization strategies for communicating 1.1GBytes of data in a 1MByte equivalent package. The company will demonstrate the feasibility of the concepts in meeting Navy needs and will establish that the concepts can be feasibly developed into a useful product for the Navy. Feasibility demonstrations will include analytical modeling / simulation. Concepts must be capable of meeting all requirements for the existing system. The company will provide a Phase II development plan with performance goals and key technical milestones.

PHASE II: Based on the results of Phase I and the Phase II development plan, the company will develop a prototype suitable for demonstration. The prototype will be evaluated to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in Phase 1. System performance will be demonstrated by the prototype evaluation. The evaluation will indicate data compression ratio and data throughput of the proposed solution using supplied system health/status data. Evaluation results will be used to refine the prototype into an initial design that will meet Navy requirements.

PHASE III: If Phase II is successful, the company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the technology to Navy use should a Phase III award be made. The company will develop a data compression / bandwidth optimization package for evaluation to determine its effectiveness in an operationally relevant environment. This will likely be a TEMPALT suitable for installation aboard a US Navy Submarine. The company will support the Navy for test and validation to certify and quantify the system for Navy use. The company will participate in planning efforts with applicable working groups (such as NAVSEA�s System Architecture Working Group) to assist with transition to Fleet use.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The technologies developed in this SBIR have potential commercial applications in the shipbuilding and communications industries. An effective data compression / bandwidth optimization strategy could enable more robust communications for commercial ships utilizing low bandwidth or intermittent satellite communications links. It could also enable troubleshooting, distance support, and associated logistical efforts through the communication of health and status data.

REFERENCES:
1. Shao, et. al. "Improved System Operational Availability (Ao) through Autonomous Data Transfer and Analysis." Proceedings of the IEEE ESTS Conference, 2007.

2. Chen, et al. "Non-threshold Based Node Level Algorithm of Data Compression over Wireless Sensor Networks." International Conference on Signal Processing Systems, 2010.

3. Maluf, et al. "Effective Data Representation and Compression in Ground Data Systems." IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2008.

4. Ron, et al. "Multi-Channel Data Compression." IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, Vol. 23, Issue 9, 2008.

KEYWORDS: Data Compression; Data Prioritization; Bandwidth Optimization; Distance Support; Troubleshooting; ROHMS;

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 9 and December 11, 2011, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 12, 2011, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (12.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 12.1 topic under which they are proposing.

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