Command Electromagnetic Management & Command-node Awareness, Management, and Obscuration (CEMA CAMO)

Topic Number: ARM27BX02-NV002
OBJECTIVE Develop and demonstrate Command Electromagnetic Management & Command-node Awareness, Management, and Obscuration (CEMA CAMO), a low-cost, distributed, and attritable electromagnetic spectrum capability that enhances Command Post Survivability and RF Signature Management during Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). The desired capability will employ distributed, software-configurable nodes to sense and shape the electromagnetic environment, creating controlled electromagnetic ambiguity that complicates adversary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), reduces targeting confidence, and degrades adversary decision-making and targeting cycles while preserving friendly freedom of maneuver. The capability will be demonstrated in partnership with Joint Innovation Out Post (JIOP) through XVIII Airborne Corps (XVIII ABC) experimentation to assess operational effectiveness, inform capability refinement, and demonstrate integration with Army formations and command-and-control architectures.
DESCRIPTION Army formations, including XVIII ABC and its subordinate formations, operating in LSCO, face increasingly capable adversary ISR systems that can exploit electromagnetic emissions to detect, characterize, locate, and target command posts, platforms, and other mission-critical nodes. The proliferation of networked sensors and increasingly rapid sensor-to-shooter processes creates a need for affordable and scalable capabilities that reduce the effectiveness of adversary electromagnetic sensing and targeting.
XVIII ABC requires capabilities that can be rapidly employed and distributed across formations to improve electromagnetic signature management and enhance survivability and freedom of maneuver in contested environments. This topic seeks innovative approaches for CEMA CAMO, a low-cost, modular, distributed, and attritable capability for electromagnetic signature management. The desired solution should enable multiple software-configurable nodes to operate cooperatively across an operational area to sense the local electromagnetic environment and generate controlled electromagnetic activity that increases ambiguity and uncertainty for adversary ISR and targeting processes. Potential approaches may include distributed electromagnetic signature shaping, configurable RF effects representations, coordinated emissions, and adaptive management of distributed nodes. Proposed solutions should address the ability to sense and characterize the local electromagnetic environment, coordinate activity across distributed nodes, generate Government-authorized RF effects representations, and dynamically adapt system behavior as the electromagnetic environment changes.
The solution should emphasize low cost, low size, weight, and power (SWaP), modularity, scalability, software configurability, distributed operation, and interoperability with Army command-and-control architectures at Corp and Division. Innovative approaches to autonomous coordination, AI-enabled processing, electromagnetic environment awareness, and dynamic signature management are encouraged. The capability should be scalable from individual nodes to distributed networks and adaptable to different platforms and operational environments. Offerors should characterize key trades including frequency coverage, bandwidth, processing requirements, network latency and synchronization, RF-generation capability, SWaP, node density, and unit cost. Solutions should demonstrate a credible pathway toward a fielded node cost below $50,000, with $30,000 desired where technically feasible.
The desired outcome is a prototype capability that demonstrates how XVIII ABC and Army formations can employ distributed, attritable electromagnetic spectrum technologies to improve survivability and freedom of maneuver by complicating adversary ISR, reducing confidence in electromagnetic-derived targeting information, and degrading adversary decision-making and targeting cycles during LSCO.
Throughout the SBIR Phase I and Phase II, CEMA CAMO prototype capabilities will be demonstrated in partnership with JIOP through XVIII ABC experimentation to assess operational effectiveness, inform capability refinement, and demonstrate integration with Army formations and command-and-control architectures.
PHASE I This topic is accepting Phase I submissions with a cost limit of $300,000 and a period of performance of 6 months. Phase I will establish the technical approach and develop an initial CEMA CAMO prototype leveraging mature technologies, including software-defined radios, modular RF front ends, low-SWaP computing, distributed networking, and AI-enabled signal processing. The effort should demonstrate automated electromagnetic sensing and characterization, software-configurable generation or regeneration of Government-authorized RF effects representations, coordinated operation of multiple distributed nodes, and automated or AI-enabled adaptation of node behavior. The effort should also characterize key performance, SWaP, networking, and cost trades, including a preliminary hardware architecture and bill of materials. Proposed solutions should also address resilient operation under degraded communications or loss of individual nodes and approaches for protecting or sanitizing sensitive mission data, software, and configuration information in the event of physical capture or compromise. Experimentation should align, where prototype maturity and contracting timelines permit, with anticipated Scarlet Dragon opportunities tentatively planned for April and August 2027 at Ft. Bragg, NC, and other XVIII ABC-supported experimentation opportunities. Specific dates, locations, and objectives for experimentation may shift based on operational priorities, exercise schedules, prototype maturity, and Government direction.
PHASE II Phase II will design, integrate, test, and mature a CEMA CAMO prototype for Warfighter integration and continued experimentation through JIOP and XVIII ABC. The prototype will demonstrate distributed electromagnetic sensing and RF signature-management capabilities in representative LSCO scenarios focused on Command Post Survivability and complicating adversary ISR and targeting. Experimentation will build on Phase I activities and leverage Scarlet Dragon and other XVIII ABC experimentation opportunities, as available, to assess performance, refine capabilities, and inform operational integration. The effort will culminate in prototype delivery to the Warfighter, performance assessment, documented results, and continued maturation and transition to MEMSS.
Phase III Dual Use Applications
CEMA CAMO technologies may have commercial applications where distributed, low-cost electromagnetic sensing and spectrum awareness are required. Potential uses include wireless network monitoring, spectrum management, interference detection and localization, critical infrastructure spectrum awareness, communications testing, and distributed RF monitoring. The modular hardware, software-defined architecture, edge processing, and distributed sensing capabilities may also support commercial telecommunications, utilities, transportation, and industrial wireless networks.