19 Sep 2006 | Ref. 263/2006
NASHUA, New Hampshire — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected BAE Systems to develop a wireless communications system that increases the capacity and performance of wireless networks.
BAE Systems will develop the Interference Division Multiple Access Communications system (IDMA) under an $8.8 million contract with options totaling $15.4 million. IDMA Communications is planned as an ad-hoc wireless communications system that enables multiple users to simultaneously communicate on the same channel without centralized control or infrastructure, greatly increasing network capacity and performance.
The work will be performed at BAE Systems facilities in Nashua, New Hampshire, Wayne, New Jersey, and Arlington, Virginia.
Bandwidth availability is a limiting factor in many wireless communications systems today, said Joshua Niedzwiecki, manager of communications and signal exploitation for BAE Systems. With current technology, bandwidth is shared through assignment of unique time slots, frequency slots, or code words for each user. Thats an arrangement that significantly limits network performance.
IDMA Communications will seek to eliminate those limitations by using multi-user detection receiver technology that enables simultaneous demodulation of multiple, interfering digital signals. The concept that supports this technology has been studied for years, said Dr. Rachel Learned, principal investigator for BAE Systems. However, the solutions to date have been too complex to implement in a real-time system.
BAE Systems has addressed the problem with patented multi-user detection techniques that reduce computational complexity with minimal sacrifice in performance. These techniques will be further refined and employed on the IDMA Communications program to develop the first-ever real-time radio prototype that incorporates a multi-user detector.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier transatlantic defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with more than 100,000 employees worldwide, had 2005 sales that exceeded $28 billion.
For further information, please contact
Matt Tinkham, BAE Systems
Tel: +1 603-885-2810
Mobile: + 1 603-315-1540
matthew.tinkham@baesystems.com
Susan Lenover, BAE Systems
Tel: + 1 703-907-8259
Mobile: + 1 703-850-1621
susan.lenover@baesystems.com
