Software Communication Architecture Compliant Software Defined Radios “all the world’s a network and its people are merely nodes…” S. Murat Bicer Dr. Jeffrey E. Smith Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. HPEC – September 2002

Agenda Last year’s summary of Software Defined Radio (SDR) and Software Communications Architecture (SCA) SCA current standing JTRS position Roadmap OMG progress to date SDRF activities SCA reference implementation SDR/SCA demonstration November goals Architecture Future work Summary

Last Year’s SDR and SCA Summary Described SCA Definition Motivation Goals Programming methodology Architecture Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) SDR/SCA requirements Relation to Object Management Group (OMG) and its many standards; and the Software Defined Radio Forum (SDRF) Described overlap between SCA/SDR goals and high-performance embedded computing

Agenda Last year’s SDR and SCA summary SCA current standing JTRS position Roadmap OMG progress to date SDRF activities SCA reference implementation SDR/SCA demonstration November goals Architecture Future work Summary

JTRS Position

Roadmap 4/1/02 11/02 4/03 7/03 10/27/02 1/6/03 5/12/03 9/03 8/25/02 LOI to submit RFP due Revised submission due Initial submission due BOD vote to adopt spec Candidate RFI/RFP/RFC Embedded system distributed component framework (D&C, file services, devices, domain mgt.) Radio components interfaces (SW radio RFP, radio devices, system apps and DM) Lightweight services (excluding logging – naming, event, timer, notification) Lightweight log service RFC Light CCM RFP (deployment, min. set of capability) 4/1/02 11/02 4/03 7/03 10/27/02 1/6/03 5/12/03 9/03 8/25/02 10/18/02 6/28/02 vote issue 9/25/02 comments N/A 11/03 2/18/03 3/3/03 8/03 NEY NEY = Not established yet

OMG Progress to Date Approved software radio and lightweight services request for proposals (RFPs) Lightweight logging request for comments (RFCs) in comment period Deployment and configuration initial submission Lightweight services initial submission and lightweight CORBA component model (CCM) RFP in work Published SCA platform independent model (PIM) on swradio.omg.org Coordinated with SWR Forum (SDRF)

SDRF Activities Definition and development of hardware abstraction layer (HAL) Research on the applicability of Mercury’s FPGA architecture/ middleware as a submission to SDRF Requirements for radio software download for RF reconfiguration Canadian Research Center (CRC) SCARI project oversight

Agenda Last year’s SDR and SCA summary SCA current standing JTRS position Roadmap OMG progress to date SDRF activities SCA reference implementation SDR/SCA demonstration November goals Architecture Future work Summary

SCA Reference Implementation A proof-of-concept SCA reference implementation to explore advantages and difficulties Reusable SCA core framework (CF) implementation code A platform specific model (PSM) for OMG SCA platform independent model (PIM) A minimum-SCA definition Platforms: x86 PC w/ WindowsNT 4-node Mercury computer w/ WindowsNT runtime host Sun Blade 100 w/ Solaris Tools used: Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, g++, ccmc++ OIS ORBexpress, ACE/TAO, SCE Rational Rose

SCA Reference Implementation

Mercury’s SCA CF Implements the basic behavior defined in SCA Provides the building blocks for SCA-compatible radios CF is compiled as a DLL Waveform developers implement their waveforms as SCA “applications” Components of these waveforms inherit the CF components and use the CF DLL CF DomainManager is used to install these waveform applications The new CF does not use fat binaries to load waveform applications

Creating Applications UI asks for all ApplicationFactory(s) Application to instantiate is chosen UI issues create( ) on ApplicationFactory ApplicationFactory determines applicable device(s) on which to load application code defined in Domain Profile ApplicationFactory ~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ XML Files ~~~~ Domain Profile Device load/execute, allocate capacities Bring resources into existence on physical devices Resource(s) bring port(s) into existence connects resource ports ApplicationFactory connects the port(s) to form application Application developers provide implementations of the base application interfaces in their applications, using the framework control and framework services interfaces as needed and describe their application with a software profile. Core application services developers provide the framework control and framework services interfaces and process the domain profile DTDs. Resource 2 1 3 Physical Device 1 Physical Device 2 Resources are then configured, initialized, and started

Agenda Last year’s SDR and SCA summary SCA current standing JTRS position Roadmap OMG progress to date SDRF activities SCA reference implementation SDR/SCA demonstration November goals Architecture Future work Summary

November Goals Demo FM3TR, WCDMA component and reconfigurability and waveform interoperability on multiple platforms and varying scalability. Minimal SCA compliant, working with “average” of existing open reference implementations, OMG SDR PIM, and DTKs. Call FPGA and software components from same middleware complying with SCA interfaces. Same infrastructure will scale and take advantage of low-level infrastructure (where it exists) e.g. data reorg, PAS, MPI, … Integrate (W)RDL as part of infrastructure and demo to show positioning of happy co-existence.

Demo Architecture Noise GUI Record Adapter Encode CVSD Encode FM3TR TCP DX PAS PAS CFP GUI Record Adapter Encode CVSD Encode FM3TR MSK Mod. + DUC D/A I/F FH Next freq hop CFP TCP DX PAS PAS Playback Adapter Decode CVSD Decode FM3TR MSK Demod Symbol Synch DDC A/D I/F FH Next tune freq Rate Converter Encode WCDMA Vocoder SW DUC D/A I/F

November Demo Two versions Two versions will merge in the future SCA – Win 2k, ACE/TAO CORBA SCA/SCE – heterogeneous hardware Two versions will merge in the future Three waveforms on both SCA platforms FM3TR (Future Multi-Band Multi-Waveform Modular Tactical Radio) SSB (Single Sideband) WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) For all waveforms, digital domain signals are converted to analog signals in the IF stage

November Demo SCA – Win 2k SCA/SCE Implements a subset of SCA Component reconfigurability Waveform interoperability Domain manager Uses CORBA for command and control Uses C++ streams for communications between components SCA/SCE Implements a different subset of SCA Scalable over heterogeneous processing elements E.g., Pentiums, G4s, FPGAs Provides seamless communication structure for stream applications

November Demo (continued) Interoperability of waveforms Demodulating an FM3TR waveform Transmitting it as a WCDMA waveform Reconfigurability in component level Deploying software resources on different hardware platforms Software DUC, FPGA DUC, etc.. Reconfigurability in application level Loading new waveforms on air Changing waveforms on air

Agenda Last year’s SDR and SCA summary SCA current standing JTRS position Roadmap OMG progress to date SDRF activities SCA reference implementation SDR/SCA demonstration November goals Architecture Future work Summary

Future Work Work on OMG, SDRF, and JTRS Technology Laboratory (JTeL) as a part of Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) contract (3 years) Extend demo to SIGINT applications Productize middleware Extend SCA CF Work with JTeL on SCA compliance (provide reference SCA implementation) Work with (W)RDL vendors of role of their technology with SCA

Summary An OMG version of the JTRS SCA is being developed Ongoing SDRF activities An SCA CF reference implementation has been developed A demo will be used to show SCA Compliance Interoperability Reconfigurability