BAE Systems Demos Small-form-factor Semiconductor Tech in DARPA Project

BAE Systems under a DARPA project, has demonstrated new small-form-factor semiconductor technology designed to sense radio frequency and communication signals in battle environments in conjunction with a drone.

The Hedgehog technology, which was used in this exercise to sense radio frequency (RF) and communication signals in congested and contested battle environments in conjunction with an unmanned aerial system, is a collection of general-purpose, reconfigurable MATRICs chips in a software-defined radio (SDR) system, the company said in a statement. 

The Hedgehog demonstration was in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Distributed RF Analysis and Geolocation on Networked System (DRAGONS) research. The DRAGONS program is designed to deliver a drone-integrated, small form factor signal identification and geolocation capability. This research and the underlying research on MATRICs and Hedgehog was developed with funding from DARPA.

The demonstration highlighted the ability for forward operators to deploy technology to secure tactical signals intelligence and geolocation data in near real-time with low size, weight and power requirements. The technology provides a broad frequency range and instantaneous bandwidth that are not currently available from other SDRs.

Hedgehog is backed by BAE Systems' MATRICs chips that can be integrated into a variety of systems to help address future requirements of electronic warfare, communications, and signal intelligence systems.