Spectrum and Wireless Innovation enabled by Future Technologies | 20 537

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20 537

The Spectrum and Wireless Innovation enabled by Future Technologies (SWIFT) opportunity is a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant program designed to spark new, cross-disciplinary advances in how wireless systems share and use radio spectrum. NSF is coordinating this effort across multiple directorates Engineering (ENG), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and Geosciences (GEO) to encourage teams that can combine expertise in communications hardware, signal processing, networking, electromagnetics, remote sensing, and related areas. The core idea is to move past incremental improvements and instead develop breakthrough concepts that reshape spectrum use in ways that deliver real societal benefit.

A defining focus of SWIFT is spectrum coexistence, especially coexistence involving passive spectrum users. Coexistence means two or more systems operating in the same frequency band at the same time and/or in the same place without causing harmful interference to each other. This becomes particularly challenging when one user is passive, such as radio astronomy or Earth-observing sensors, because passive systems do not transmit radio frequency energy and therefore cannot easily coordinate or "negotiate" access the way active transmitters sometimes can. The solicitation highlights examples like radio astronomy coexisting with 5G wireless services, or active-active sharing scenarios such as weather radar operating alongside Wi-Fi. By emphasizing passive uses, SWIFT targets a technically difficult and comparatively underexplored area where new methods could meaningfully protect critical scientific and public-safety observations while still enabling modern communications growth.

SWIFT-funded projects are expected to pursue innovation on both the physical technology side and the algorithmic/protocol side. On the hardware front, this can include advances in radio designs, receivers, front-end filtering, reconfigurable components, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and software-defined radio (SDR) approaches that make systems more aware, agile, and resilient. On the algorithms and protocols front, the program is looking for new approaches to sensing, interference identification and mitigation, dynamic access, spectrum awareness, coordination mechanisms, and AI-enabled decision-making that can manage real-world complexities. The emphasis is on synergistic teamwork where the hardware and software/networking perspectives are developed together, rather than treated as separate layers.

The program framing also makes clear that the intended impact is broader than simply improving "spectrum efficiency" in a narrow sense. NSF describes the goal as improving spectrum utilization, which includes practical, reliable sharing and protection strategies that can be adopted in real deployments and that address coexistence in challenging environments. This can include concepts related to dynamic spectrum access, interference avoidance, methods for reducing radio frequency interference (RFI), and approaches that support emerging applications such as IoT, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/UAV), and advanced wireless platforms. Terms and acronyms referenced in the opportunity reflect this broad scope, including items tied to spectrum policy and services (e.g., ITU, Radio Regulations, Earth Exploration-Satellite Service, Radio Astronomy Service) as well as technology themes (AI, SDR, electromagnetic considerations, and spectrum-access initiatives).

From a funding and administrative standpoint, SWIFT is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 20-537) categorized under science and technology research and development. The posted award ceiling is $1,500,000, with an expectation of about 16 awards. The original closing date listed for proposals was April 3, 2020, and the opportunity was created on January 4, 2020. Eligibility is described broadly as "Others" with clarification in the solicitation text, indicating applicants should consult the detailed eligibility section for specifics. CFDA numbers associated with the program include 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, and 47.070, reflecting NSF programmatic coverage across multiple research domains.

Overall, SWIFT is positioned as a team-based research program aimed at unlocking new spectrum-sharing and coexistence capabilities, with special attention to the hard problem of protecting passive scientific and sensing services while enabling continued innovation in wireless communications. It encourages proposals that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and that can plausibly lead to new technologies or major upgrades to existing wireless infrastructure, with outcomes that translate into more robust, societally beneficial spectrum use.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Spectrum and Wireless Innovation enabled by Future Technologies" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 04, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 03, 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 $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 16 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 20 537

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