communicationsGovernment Services, Incorporated
Software Defined Radio for Software Defined Radio for Public SafetyPublic Safety
Presentation to the National Conference on Emergency Communication
13 December 2005Fred Frantz
Director, Law Enforcement Programs, L-3 GSIChair, Software Defined Radio Forum Public Safety Special Interest
Group
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OutlineOutline
• Background
• Potential benefits of software defined radio technology for emergency communication
• Critical issues in technology development and deployment
• Future steps
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Background - 1Background - 1
• L-3 GSI activities funded by the National Institute of Justice CommTech Program– CommTech program goal is facilitate
development and deployment of communications technology to (primarily) state and local public safety personnel/first responders
• Voice over IP• Advanced wireless data• Non-terrestrial communications• Software defined radios• Cognitive radios
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Background – 2Background – 2
• What is software defined radio?– Technologies that enable reconfigurable system
architectures for wireless networks and user terminals (SDR Forum)
– E.g., technology that implements control of radio operating parameters (frequency, modulation type, power, etc.) in software.
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Work with SDR ForumWork with SDR Forum
• SDR Forum – international consortium of organizations dedicated to advancing SDR technology
• Established the Public Safety Special Interest Group– Representation includes public safety organizations, traditional
public safety LMR vendors, commercial companies, regulators, military
• Over past year the Public Safety SIG has been drafting a report analyzing issues associated with developing SDR technology for public safety
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SDR Technology for Public SDR Technology for Public SafetySafety
• Today’s public safety radios are SDRs—providing multi-protocol radios– Conventional, legacy, P25
• Beyond multi-protocol– Multi-band– Multi-service– Cognitive applications
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Potential Benefits of SDR for Potential Benefits of SDR for Public SafetyPublic Safety
• Seamless interoperability– Multi-band– Multi-service
• Support for highly dynamic networks• Support for “system of system”
• Life cycle cost reduction– Reduce cost of upgrading and reprogramming– Simplify technology upgrades
• Foundation for cognitive applications that can yield performance enhancements
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Technical Challenges—Antennas Technical Challenges—Antennas and Front Endsand Front Ends
• Portable multi-band antennas across VHF/UHF/800
• Size/weight/power constraints on processing in portable devices
• Support for processing across broad range of frequency bands
• Support for processing across diverse services– Linear vs non-linear wave issues may limit types of modes that can be
cost-effectively implemented in single device
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Technical Challenges—Technical Challenges—SecuritySecurity
• Capabilities such as potential over-the-air reprogramming add significant security challenges– Interoperability could be impacted if security
regimes are not coordinated/interoperable
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Technical Challenges—Technical Challenges—StandardsStandards
• Role of additional standards in public safety SDRs is open question– Traditional approach in public safety such as
P25 defines standard interface between devices, between systems, between device and infrastructure
– Alternative such as JTRS SCA defines standard interfaces within a device
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Technical Challenge—Cognitive Technical Challenge—Cognitive ApplicationsApplications
• Focus on performance enhancement– For example, adjust waveform parameters to
adjust to dynamic RF environment
• Spectrum sharing requires significantly more spectrum utilization data– No comprehensive studies of spectrum
utilization have been done to look at spectrum utilization across public safety and non-public safety bands during major events and incidents
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Where Are We Headed?Where Are We Headed?
– SDR Forum Public Safety SIG Report scheduled for completion in January, 2006
• Multi-band capabilities are on the near-term horizon– NIJ currently working multi-band operational pilot to collect
operational lessons learned– NIJ currently sponsoring and soliciting R&D in multi-band SDRs
• Multi-service capabilities will require some additional refinement of functional requirements within marketplace
• Cognitive applications will be overlaid over time
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So What Does This Mean for So What Does This Mean for Emergency Communications?Emergency Communications?
• SDR multi-band radios can address multi-band interoperability issues– Does not directly address the issues of legacy
proprietary systems
• Future capabilities such as multi-service SDRs and cognitive performance enhancing capabilities on the horizon
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