The problem is that demand for scarce EM spectrum is increasing, driven by a growing military and civilian demand for connected devices. However as the spectrum becomes more congested, the Department of Defense wants better tools for managing the EM environment and for avoiding interference.

Glo-Flo 32 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor technology apparently allowed the development of an exceptionally high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

A spokesDarpa said that the ADC could help ensure the uninterrupted operation of spectrum-dependent military capabilities, including communications and radar, in contested EM environments.

The EM spectrum, whose component energy waves include trillionth-of-a-meter-wavelength gamma rays to multi-kilometer-wavelength radio waves, is an inherently physical phenomenon. ADCs convert  analogue data into numbers that a digital computer can analyze and manipulate, an important capability for understanding and adapting to dynamic EM environments.

The current batch of ADCs only process data within a limited portion of the spectrum at a given time. As a result, they can temporarily overlook critical information about radar, jamming, communications, and other potentially problematic EM signals.

DARPA’s Arrays at Commercial Timescales (ACT) have a processing speed nearly ten times that of commercially available, state-of-the-art alternatives. By using this increased speed, the resulting ADC can analyse data from across a much wider spectrum range, allowing DoD systems to better operate in congested spectrum bands and to more rapidly react to spectrum-based threats.