Proliferated Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) Satellite Communications (SATCOM)

AFWERX · AFWERX STRATFI · AFWERX

AI-Readiness Score

14/25

Pathway Speed

5/5

Timeline Realism

3/5

Problem Framing

3/5

AI / ML Fit

0/5

Award + Transition

3/5

Award

$3,300,000

Award ceiling

ASTRANIS SPACE TECHNOLOGIES CORP

Awardee

Posted June 14, 2024

Description

Astranis has previously performed null steering development as part of a Phase 2 SBIR that utilized the Astranis Gen 2 system which uses commercial Ka-band RF spectrum. To implement the null steering developments for DoD applications, the Gen 2 system requires government reserved or Military Ka-band (Mil-Ka) spectrum. Astranis is currently developing the Gen 2 system using private investment for commercial applications. This STRATFI effort will focus on modifications to the RF portions of the Gen 2 system to enable full use of the Mil-Ka band. The effort will first conduct an analysis of the system to understand system level impacts and identify areas which require modifications, then implement those modifications in an iterative design cycle in hardware, with each iteration including hardware design, fabrication, assembly, and test, with increasing complexity of test.

Score Rationale

The pathway is a genuine AFWERX STRATFI, the gold standard for fast-track defense contracting, earning a full 5, but the underlying work is RF hardware modification and iterative antenna/spectrum engineering for Mil-Ka band compatibility — there is no AI or ML component whatsoever, making the AI/ML fit score a 0. The $3.3M ceiling with a named STRATFI vehicle suggests a reasonable transition path but falls short of the $5M+ threshold with an explicit production follow-on named, and the response deadline is unknown, which tempers the timeline score to a middle value.

Source

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