About Sigtem Technology

Sigtem Technology is a company that received a Department of Defense SBIR/STTR grant for a project entitled: Indoor Mapping and Geolocation Enabler: Network Exploration of SOOP and Cooperative SLAM Technology. The abstract given for this project is as follows: We propose to develop an enabling technology for indoor mapping and geolocation based on innovative integration of cooperative simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) and network exploitation of signals of opportunity (SOOP) technology (NEST). The SLAM is an emerging technology that enables a mobile robot (a SLAM agent) placed at an unknown location in an unknown environment to incrementally build a consistent map of this environment while simultaneously determine its location within this map. However, by itself, the SLAM only produces a local map in the mobile agents coordinate frame. Besides, it is a lengthy process for a single SLAM agent to survey a large complex. The use of cooperative SLAM agents not only speeds up the map building process but also enables network exploitation of signals of opportunity for geolocation in GPS-denied environment. In this project, we will consider long-range signals of opportunity such as the field and/or segment sync codes in digital TV transmissions and short-range signals of opportunity such as the beacon frames from IEEE 802.11 WLAN access points. In addition of the design of SOOP receivers, we will focus on the data link transceivers, which will not only allow for coordination of actions and data exchange to local maps fusion but also enable the generation of differential ranges between cooperative agents to a common SOOP source and the estimation of clock offset and relative ranges between the cooperative agents. In Phase I, the proposed concepts will be formulated, analyzed, and simulated in computer for performance prediction and engineering tradeoff. The Phase I approach will be translated into hardware/software prototyping in Phase II for testing and demonstration.BENEFITS:When successful, the proposed research will produce an indoor mapping and geolocation capability in areas where GPS is not available. This will have great potentials in many military, homeland security, search and rescue, and commercial applications alike for positioning and navigation in urban and indoor environments, robotics, and mapping. Sigtem Technology is a company that received a Department of Defense SBIR/STTR grant for a project entitled: Cooperative Handheld Location Device Using Signals of Opportunity. The abstract given for this project is as follows: We propose to develop a cooperative handheld location device (CHLD) using signals of opportunity (SOOP) to complement and substitute GPS wherever the latter becomes unavailable. Examples of signals of opportunity include the field and/or segment sync codes in digital radio transmissions (e.g., digital TV signals). The proposed cooperative positioning concept includes differential ranges between cooperative devices to the same SOOP source and the relative ranges between the cooperative devices. The cooperation among networked location devices not only allows them to choose the most appropriate positioning mechanism but also provides them with additional measurements to reduce the number of SOOP otherwise required. In addition to data exchange, the radio link between two cooperative devices also allows for estimation of their clock offset and relative ranging. In Phase I, the proposed concepts will be formulated, analyzed, and simulated in computer for performance prediction and engineering tradeoff. The Phase I approach will be translated into hardware/software prototyping in Phase II for testing and demonstration.BENEFIT: When successful, the proposed research will produce a cooperative handheld location device where GPS is not available. This will have great potentials in many military, homeland security, and commercial applications alike for positioning and navigation in urban and indoor environments. Sigtem Technology is a company that received a Department of Defense SBIR/STTR grant for a project entitled: Advanced GPS Solution for Software Defined Radios. The abstract given for this project is as follows: We propose an advanced GPS solution for software defined radios (SDR) for military users. Different from conventional software GPS receivers that merely mimics what a hardware receiver does, the proposed GPS solution sets forth advanced signal processing techniques along the signal and data processing chain, some of which are difficult, if not impossible, to implement within conventional receiver architectures, thus allowing the realization of the full potential a software receiver can possibly offer. For military applications, the design emphases are therefore placed on dynamic range, interference suppression, and weak signal operations. In the Phase I base effort, the proposed algorithms will be formulated and a subset of which will be investigated for implementation within the Software Communications Architecture (SCA). In the Phase I option effort, the design of a hardware accelerator will be conducted to implement a cascaded DFT/IDFT on FPGA. In Phase II, the validated algorithms and their designs will be prototyped for demonstration.