SBIR Phase I: Spectrum Coexistence Digital Twin

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $304,638 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

The broader/commercial impact of this SBIR Phase I project is the development of a new hardware technology that directly addresses a looming "spectrum deficit." Soaring demand for wireless data, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G, is outstripping the capacity of available radio frequencies. The core issue is that the most valuable spectrum, worth over $100B for commercial use alone, is also essential for critical defense and weather radar systems. Current spectrum sharing solutions are slow and inefficient, sometimes taking nearly an hour to resolve interference conflicts. This project’s innovation is an integrated hardware device that filters out interference in real-time, enabling seamless coexistence between commercial and government users. This supports U.S. technological leadership and national security while unlocking massive economic value. The initial market will be telecommunications and defense contractors, with a business model based on selling a modular device before licensing the core technology as a specialized integrated circuit, creating a durable competitive advantage in a vital new market. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address the limitations of dynamic spectrum sharing, where digital signal processing is too slow and power-intensive for real-time mitigation. The project's intellectual merit is a novel analog processing unit that uses physics-based deep learning for nanosecond-scale, low-power inference di

Key facts

NSF award ID
2528405
Awardee
VECTORWAVE CORPORATION (MA)
SAM.gov UEI
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PI
Ronald A Davis
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
Software Services and Applications
Estimated total
$304,638
Funds obligated
$304,638
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
10/01/2025 → 09/30/2026