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UC San
Diego Researchers Succeed in Rapid Port of FM3TR Waveform to Spectrum's
Multi-Purpose Radio Under JPEO JTRS Support
Marketwire
June 18, 2009
Waveform Code and Documentation to be Available in the JTRS Open
Information Repository
BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Spectrum Signal Processing by Vecima
("Spectrum") (TSX:VCM), an advanced custom radio provider, announced
today that the Future Multiband Multiwaveform Modular Tactical Radio
(FM3TR) waveform has been successfully ported to Spectrum's flexComm(TM)
SDR-4000 software reconfigurable transceiver. Researchers at the
University of California San Diego division of the California Institute
for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) conducted the
successful work under support from the U.S. Joint Program Executive
Office for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS) program. Calit2
researchers completed the port in just four months after receiving the
SDR-4000 equipment. This waveform can now be readily employed by all of
Spectrum's SDR-4000 users.
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"The FM3TR project with Calit2
demonstrates that with software defined radio (SDR) technology, a
Software Communications Architecture (SCA)-enabled waveform can be
rapidly ported to an industry commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system,
such as Spectrum's SDR-4000," said Dr. Richard North, Technical Director
for JPEO JTRS. "The JPEO JTRS is proud to support the adoption of SDR
technologies through programs like the JTRS Open Information Repository
(IR)."
The JTRS Open IR contains material donated by the JTRS JPEO as a
courtesy to the open-source SDR development community. The plan is that
the IR will continue to grow over time with additional contributions not
only from JPEO JTRS and Calit2, but the user community as well. The JTRS
FM3TR waveform code and documentation is available in the JTRS Open IR,
accessible at http://jtrs.calit2.net.
"Spectrum offered a comprehensive solution that enabled us to begin our
development immediately, while remaining on schedule and on budget for
the completion of the FM3TR port," said Bill Hodgkiss, Principal
Investigator on the Calit2/JTRS SDR Project. He added, "The Spectrum
solution tightly integrated the hardware, software - including a
complete SCA Core Framework, a hardware abstraction layer and
application protocol interface (API) library, and all the necessary
development tools." Hodgkiss is also associate director of the UC San
Diego division of Calit2. The Calit2 team successfully demonstrated and
presented the FM3TR port at the joint meeting of JTRS Science and
Technology Forum and the SDR Forum 61st General Working Meeting, held
earlier this year in San Diego at Calit2.
"Our work with the JPEO JTRS during the past year has been, and is, a
unique opportunity for a university to get an insight into the
technology challenges facing the defense industry in the communications
area," noted Per Johansson, a Calit2 Principal Engineer and the Project
Manager of the Calit2/JTRS Project. "It has been a chance for us to work
in a real commercial environment with equipment and tools. The close
collaboration we have with JTRS JPEO has been key for us to be able to
get up to speed in such a relatively short time."
Johansson summed up, "It's been a great learning experience for us. With
this port, we became familiar with this environment, and knowing what we
know now, we can take the next step and start looking at something where
we design it from the start." Next, the team will build a Software
Communications Architecture (SCA)-enabled version of the APCO Project 25
(P25) public safety waveform, again using the SDR-4000; follow-on
support from JPEO JTRS began recently.
"A healthy open-source SDR development community is essential to reduce
the costs of fielding these powerful radio technologies. FM3TR is a
waveform we believe will be useful not just to Spectrum's SDR-4000
customers, but to the entire community of developers," said Mark Briggs,
VP Marketing at Spectrum. "This program at Calit2 is an excellent
example of effective government, academic and industry partnership,
producing meaningful results for the good of the community."
About the SDR-4000
The SDR-4000 is a multi-purpose software reconfigurable transceiver that
comes with a comprehensive software stack including an SCA Core
Framework with development tools, Spectrum's quicComm(TM) hardware
abstraction layer and API library, and a real-time operating system
(RTOS) with an integrated development environment. The SDR-4000 has been
proven to support physical layer implementations of other JTRS waveforms
including:
- Wideband Networking Waveform Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (WNW OFDM)
- Soldier Radio Waveform Electronic Warfare (SRW EW)
- Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS)
For more information on the SDR-4000, please visit
www.spectrumsignal.com/products/3u.
About FM3TR and Calit2's ported version of FM3TR
The Future Multiband Multiwaveform Modular Tactical Radio (FM3TR)
waveform is a test waveform developed and used as an instrument to
promote international interoperability. The FM3TR waveform provides
frequency hopping, over both VHF and UHF military bands (30 MHz - 400
MHz), using continuously variable slope delta (CVSD) modulation for
voice digitizing. The FM3TR waveform defines two operational modes:
voice and data. In the Calit2-ported version of FM3TR, the voice mode is
used to support a push-to-talk (PTT) application and the data service
primarily supports an instant text-messaging (ITM) application. Of these
two applications, the FM3TR base code only supported the voice mode and
a PTT application; therefore, the Calit2 team added a data mode to
support the ITM application. Wherever possible, the FM3TR base code was
reused to minimize additional development, this was also the case for
the data mode and ITM application. The Calit2-ported FM3TR code and
documentation will be available in the JTRS Open IR shortly; it is
currently undergoing JTRS conformance testing which will ease wider use
and adoption.
ABOUT SPECTRUM SIGNAL PROCESSING BY VECIMA
Spectrum Signal Processing is part of Vecima Networks Inc. Within the
Vecima umbrella, Spectrum's primary focus is to deliver leading edge
software defined radios and radio products to both commercial and
military customers. Spectrum's products and services are optimized for
satellite communications applications, as well as military
communications, signals intelligence, surveillance, and electronic
warfare. Key customers include commercial satellite communications
providers as well as the US Government, its allies and its prime
contractors. For more information on Spectrum and its flexComm product
line, please visit www.spectrumsignal.com.
Vecima (TSX:VCM) is a leading designer and manufacturer of products that
enable broadband access to cable, wireless and telephony networks.
Vecima's products and solutions allow service providers to rapidly and
cost-effectively bridge the network segment that connects the system
core network directly to end users by overcoming the bottleneck
resulting from insufficient carrying capacity in legacy infrastructures.
Vecima is focused on providing leading edge technology to a number of
markets, including SDR technology in commercial applications, DOCISIS
3.0 modules and systems like HyperQAM to existing and new customers,
deep digital decoding through products such as CableVista to support the
ongoing shift towards All Digital Cable Networks, and WiMax products to
provide connectivity to end users in underserved markets worldwide. For
more information on Vecima, please visit www.vecima.com.
ABOUT JPEO JTRS
The Joint Tactical Radio System, headquartered in San Diego, CA, was
initiated in early 1997 to improve and consolidate the Services' pursuit
of separate solutions to replace existing legacy radios in the
Department of Defense inventory. The JTRS program has evolved from
separate radio replacement programs to an integrated effort to network
multiple weapon system platforms and forward combat units where it
matters most - the last tactical mile. JTRS will link the power of the
Global Information Grid to the warfighter in applying fire effects and
achieving overall battlefield superiority.
JTRS is developing an open architecture of cutting-edge radio waveform
technology that allows multiple radio types (e.g., handheld, aircraft,
maritime) to communicate with each other. The goal is to produce a
family of interoperable, modular software-defined radios which operate
as nodes in a network to ensure secure wireless communication and
networking services for mobile and fixed forces. These goals extend to
U.S. allies, coalition partners and, in time, disaster response
personnel.
ABOUT CALIT2 at UC SAN DIEGO
The UC San Diego Division of the California Institute for
Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), together with
Calit2's division at UC Irvine, house over 1,000 researchers across the
two campuses, organized around more than 50 projects. With a focus on
discovery and innovation at the intersection of science, engineering and
the arts, Calit2 constitutes one of the largest multidisciplinary
research centers in the nation.
Created in 2000 by the State of California to maintain and extend its
leadership in critical technologies, Calit2 brings together teams of
faculty, student and staff researchers with leading telecommunications,
computer hardware and software, and applications companies. Research is
conducted on the future of telecommunications and information technology
and how these technologies will transform a range of applications
important to the California economy and its citizens' quality of life.
For more information, please visit www.calit2.net.
The Calit2/JTRS Software-defined Radio Project is a collaborative
research effort supported by JPEO JTRS involving SCA SDR development
platforms (porting the FM3TR waveform), a high performance amplifier
(HPA) test-bed and hosting the JTRS Open Information Repository (IR).
For more information, please visit http://jtrs.calit2.net/.
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