Jay Clemens
Lockheed Martin has received an $11.8 million contract to execute the final phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s radio frequency mapping program intended to help operators view real-time spectrum use.
The RadioMap tool will work to overlay radio spectrum data on a map in order to prevent frequency conflict and schedule the use of spectrum for communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, DARPA said Friday.
Lockheed will perform the final phase of the RadioMap program through the summer of 2016 and the tool will undergo operational testing in 2017 prior to its transition to the U.S. Marine Corps.
John Chapin, DARPA program manager, said the tool “uses existing radios and jammers that do double-duty.”
“In the ‘down’ time when they aren’t performing their primary function, the devices sense the spectrum around them and, through RadioMap technology, provide an accurate picture of what frequencies are currently in use and where,” Chapin added.
