Processor Reconfiguration for Wideband Sensor Systems (PROWESS)

Background
The DARPA Microsystems Technology Office is seeking innovative proposals in run-time reconfigurable processors with the specific goal to develop processors that provide autonomous radiofrequency (RF) systems with decision-directed situational awareness about complex and uncertain electromagnetic environments.

Work Details
The work involves developing runtime reconfigurable processing hardware and support software, including high-throughput streaming data processing arrays, controllers, schedulers, programming workflow tools, software-based resource managers, and real-time kernels to execute representative sensor processing functions. The goal is to combine high-density computational fabric with algorithmic time multiplexing to greatly expand the useful processing capacity in edge sensor systems. The work also includes leveraging expertise in both processing architectures and spectrum sensing to ensure solutions are well-matched to this use case. The focus is on reconfigurable receiver processing and not expected to develop new reconfigurable RF front ends. The proposed processors should be highly reprogrammable and support software development in existing high-level programming languages.

Period of Performance
The period of performance for Phase 1 is from Month 1 to Month 9, for Phase 2 from Month 19 to Month 38, and for Phase 3 (Informational Only) from Month 40.