Naval Service Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Office-Wide | CRANBAA20 0001

Opportunity Information: Apply for CRANBAA20 0001

The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Office-Wide opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number CRANBAA20 0001) is a Department of Defense research grant solicitation aimed at advancing science and technology that directly supports Navy needs. It is a discretionary grant program under CFDA 12.300, with eligible applicants limited to U.S. public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education. The posting indicates an anticipated total of about four awards, with a maximum award size (ceiling) of up to $2,000,000. The opportunity was created February 3, 2020, with an original closing date of March 4, 2020.

Technically, NSWC Crane is looking for proposals across four distinct research topic areas, each tied to operationally relevant gaps where the Navy wants new methods, materials, or foundational understanding. The first topic focuses on 3-dimensional modeling, simulation, and visualization for reliability analysis and corrective action planning. Crane is seeking approaches that combine physics-based and data-driven methods, specifically highlighting finite element analysis, fatigue analysis, and deep learning. The goal is to predict component life and ultimately system life in realistic operational environments, where both mechanical loading and chemical/material aging occur together and may interact. A key deliverable aspect is how results are communicated: predicted failure sites or degradation hotspots should be presented using virtual reality and/or augmented reality visualization so maintainers and field operators can interpret the outputs quickly, plan maintenance, and decide on corrective actions with more confidence.

The second topic addresses radiation effects in quantum information technologies, reflecting a push to move quantum systems from controlled laboratory settings into real-world environments where radiation exposure can be a limiting factor. NSWC Crane is specifically interested in basic research that characterizes and explains how various radiation types affect critical quantum components, including qubit architectures and integrated photonic structures used for generating and manipulating entangled photons. The description highlights that multiple qubit implementations are under consideration for future systems, with particular mention of superconducting Josephson junction-based qubits and trapped-ion approaches. Because little is currently known about how radiation impacts performance, stability, error rates, or failure mechanisms in these devices, the Navy is seeking work that establishes the underlying science and identifies vulnerabilities. The topic also calls out chip-scale silicon photonics for quantum applications and the possibility of radiation-induced damage mechanisms similar to those seen in optical fibers and semiconductors, such as lattice damage and refractive index changes due to carrier generation and doping modification. Research is encouraged on both short-term disruptive events (single event upsets) and cumulative long-term degradation (total ionizing dose), especially as they affect entanglement generation and quantum correlation measurements.

The third topic is a materials and coatings challenge: developing a highly optically transparent coating that also provides electromagnetic interference (EMI) protection. NSWC Crane sets clear performance targets that go beyond common indium tin oxide (ITO) solutions. The desired coating must achieve sheet resistance under 20 ohms per square while also delivering very high optical transmission (greater than 97%) across a wide band from 400 nm to 1600 nm (visible through short-wave infrared), with low reflectance (less than 1.5%) over that same range. The coating must adhere to and be compatible with fused silica or n-BK7 glass, which are common optical substrate materials. Both passive and active concepts are allowed; however, if the approach requires power, it will be evaluated in terms of power usage and whether it fits within realistic platform constraints tied to aperture size and existing power draw. In practical terms, this topic is asking for alternatives to ITO that maintain conductivity for EMI shielding without sacrificing broadband optical throughput and low reflections.

The fourth topic targets spectrum machine learning, motivated by the Navy's reliance on spectrum sensing systems across aircraft, surface ships, and submarines. The Navy wants machine learning methods that help sensors interpret complex, crowded electromagnetic environments faster and more effectively, improving situational awareness for operators. The solicitation outlines several specific problem areas: signal identification (recognizing modulation, signal type, and subtle transmitter or channel signatures), signal separation (disentangling overlapping signals that share time and frequency resources), spectrum information compression (reducing storage and bandwidth needs while preserving the most important information, potentially far below Nyquist-rate raw recording requirements), and anomaly detection (finding previously unseen signals or detecting meaningful deviations of known signals). It also explicitly invites approaches that fuse or coordinate multiple sensors, while noting that practical constraints on data sharing and communication overhead must be considered, implying interest in distributed, bandwidth-aware, or edge-processing approaches rather than assuming unlimited data movement.

Overall, this NSWC Crane office-wide solicitation is structured as a broad agency research call spanning digital engineering and reliability visualization, radiation-hard quantum and photonic fundamentals, next-generation transparent EMI shielding coatings, and machine learning for spectrum dominance. The common theme is enabling technologies that can transition from research into tools and components that work under operational constraints, with clear attention to field usability, environmental stressors, and practical deployment considerations.

• The Department of Defense, NSWC - CRANE in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Naval Service Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Office-Wide" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.300.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 03, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 04, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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