Reconfigurable radio systems

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Reconfigurable radio systems for interoperability in a multi-national

environment

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Dr Michael Street Technology and Innovation Manager

Service Strategy

• Server workloads: 10% AAGR • Storage capacity: 50% AAGR • Power costs: 20% AAGR• Network bandwidth: 35% AAGR

AAAAAAAAGR !(Average Annual Growth Rates)

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• Network bandwidth: 35% AAGR • Mobile data: 60% AAGR

• Budgets : 0% AAGR ?

The demand for mobile data is increasing rapidly, for military and civilian users

Delivering C4ISR Capabilities

Strategic Concept

Political Guidance

Active Engagement Modern Defence

Crisis ManagementCooperative SecurityCollective Defence

Critical Capabilities

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Political Guidance

Urgent Operational Needs

NATO Defence Planning Process

International Security Assistance Force, Operation Unified Protector, Kosovo Force

Federated Mission NetworkingMissile DefenceCyber DefenceAir C2Bi-SC AISJoint Intelligence, Surveillance& Reconnaissance

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All operations and capabilities rely on reliable communications

NATO C3 Taxonomy

Functional Area Information Services

VisionSAAS

NDPP VisionBPAAS

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Infrastructure

Core Services

Information Services SAAS

VisionPAAS

VisionIAAS

Communications (blue layer) underpins all higher level services (purple/orange), applications (grey) –and ultimately – functions (red/blue).

• Military operations need more data, to more places, with more mobility – Demand for military radio communications is rising

• Radio spectrum is finite. – Hard limit on throughput available into a deployed operation and between mobiles

• Spectrum is used for many purposes– Comms, sensors, EW, ELINT

The problem

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– Comms, sensors, EW, ELINT

• Maximise use of the radio spectrum through– Generating less traffic– Proxies to reduce IP overhead– Efficient, adaptive waveforms– Coordinated management– Appropriate radio network topologies– Opportunistic use of spectrum

… you cannot overrule the laws of physics

The demand for mobile data is increasing.Solutions need to be interoperable

• Common authoritative data sources• Different detail, presentation, telecoms• Applications and supporting services must

communicate– Service management and control

Mobility for mobile forces

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– Service management and control

• Improving telecoms for mobile forces– Improve spectrum utilisation

• Waveforms (SDR), freq management (CR), efficient apps

Users need to access authoritative data sources while mobile. This requires more efficient, interoperable waveforms.

• Operations are – Multi-national

Challenges

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Users and their equipment are multi-national – as seen on the next slide. Interoperability, standards and implementation needs to be multi-national too.

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Existing Waveform Standards

• VLF:– Very long range but very low capacity ∼ 10s bps– Works to submerged submarines– Standard to be enhanced for capacity

• HF:– Long range but low capacity ∼ several kbps

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– Standards defined covering land, air and maritime use

• UHF:– Air ground air ∼ 10s of kbps– Standards (SATURN) well defined but data channel not used

• SATCOM:– Long range and high capacity ∼ several hundreds kbps– But requires infrastructure– Standards well defined and recently upgraded to better support

NNEC

UAVProprietary

radio

US a/cSATURN

radio

TacSatUHF

Satcom

Radio Relay

SHF Satcom

FRPR4G radio (FR crypto)

NLDPR4G radio (NLD crypto)

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HF radioSHF Satcom

NLD HeloCivil ATC radio

UK“BOWMAN” radio

PR4G radio (FR crypto)

• Operations are – Multi-national– Data-intensive, Mobile– Changing

Challenges

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• Solutions must be– Interoperable, multi-nationally– Realisable within available spectrum– Flexible, but reliable

Emerging Waveform Standards

• V/UHF:– Narrow Band Waveform (NBWF)– Moderate range moderate capacity ∼ 10s kbps

• UHF (WBWF):– Ground to ground– Higher capacity ∼ 100s kbps, but less range

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– Higher capacity ∼ 100s kbps, but less range

• High Capacity Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS)– Troposcatter– Airborne platforms

Fielding new standards rapidly and widely is enabled by reconfigurable radios

• ADatP-34• NATO Interoperability Standards and Profiles

Compendium of standards

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Relevant NATO standards for communications and other services are maintained in the NISP

Standardisation

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“Better a small slice of a big pie, than a big slice of a small pie”

- Calouste Gulbenkian

ELOSAITFref

BLOSLITF

SATCOMLITFref

LOSLITFref

ELOSLITFref

ELOSLITFref

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BLOSMITFref

LOSLITFref

LOSLITFref

ELOSLITFref

LITFref

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• Challenges– Tactical radio lifespans– Capabilities of radio platforms– Deployment cost

Deployment of new standards

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• But if we don’t ……

Widespread deployment of new standards is hindered by the cost of replacing radio platforms. Reconfigurable radio systems remove many of those limitations.

Military and civil environments

Military CivilCustomer base Limited, govt WidespreadUser reqs of radio Varied Fairly staticEquipment lifetime 20 years < 2 yearsEquipment cost High Low

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Equipment cost High LowDevelopment time 2-10 years MonthsSecurity Government Maybe someRadio platforms Varied LimitedTesting National or Intl. Commercial

Civil and military radio systems historically have different characteristics

SCIP: A three basket standards model

SCIP-210

SCIP-231* SCIP-232

Stanag 4591 G.729D Application

Signalling

Cryptographic NR

Secret

Natl-XXX

ProtectedPrivacy

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SCIP-231* SCIP-232

SCIP-121* SCIP-120

GSM IP PSTN ISDN

Cryptographic Suite

Key Management Plan

Networks

Natl-XXX

Natl-XXX

Systems may utilize standards from different sources, public standards for non-sensitive functions plus non-public or controlled standards for more sensitive functions.

• Radio spectrum is finite – Hard limit on throughput available into a deployed

operation and between mobile units.

• Spectrum is used for many purposes– Civil and military– Communications, Sensors, C-IED, ELINT …

Radio Spectrum

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– Communications, Sensors, C-IED, ELINT …

• NATO must maximise use of available spectrum– Efficient applications and proxies – Coordinated spectrum management– Spectrum sharing

• Maximise spectrum use

• Spectrum sharing• White space

• React to policies and usage reports of other nodes

• Trust information

CR and Security

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• Adapt to local / national regulations and usage

• Trust information which drives radio performance

Cognitive radio offers benefits but is open to additional threats

• Future operations rely on information– Standards for information, applications & wired networks

• Future operations rely on mobility– Interoperable radio comms essential

• Waveform designs are being realised

Summary

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• Waveform designs are being realised – NBWF, HDR WF

• Spectrum availability and effective spectrum exploitation will be crucial

• Implementation and deployment of new functionality is necessary – RRS is an enabler for this

Thank you

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