Sabre Systems, Inc., was selected for a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract for advanced communications development. Under this contract, Sabre will support the research and development of a low-profile high-frequency (HF) maritime antenna. The contract, which was awarded by the Office of Naval Research, has a 6-month period of performance with an additional 6-month option and a $240k contract value.

Traditional high-frequency antennas are physically large and, generally, instantaneously single-banded. For a small maritime craft, such as an unmanned surface vehicle operating at or slightly below the waterline, a large/tall antenna would be unfeasible. This is due to the craft’s small footprint and the high center of mass of traditional monopole antennas, which reduces the stability of the craft.

Through this Phase I SBIR, Sabre will design and develop a concept for a lightweight low center of mass antenna for use on a small maritime craft with increased instantaneous bandwidth to provide higher data rates with higher reliability. As part of this process, Sabre will investigate how to effectively reduce the size of HF antennas while meeting technical requirements and determine if automatic switched tuners or lossy matching techniques can be used to effectively extend the available bandwidth. Sabre will then integrate these solutions into a design with the goal of providing a wideband dual-polarized HF antenna that supports transmit and receive functions at all HF distance ranges with an instantaneous bandwidth as high as possible, while utilizing the small footprint of the maritime craft.

Sabre Systems, Inc., Chairman and CEO, Phil Jaurigue, said, “Sabre is excited to apply our extensive experience in communication technology development, specifically our success in HF antenna design, to support the critical communication needs of our warfighters.”