Software Defined

Radio
Tomasz Kaczmarek

Contents

What is Software Defined Radio?

Architecture of SDR
Dedicated software
Examples of using SDR

What is Software Defined Radio?

A radio communication system where components that have
been typically implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters,
amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are
instead implemented by means of software on a personal
computer or embedded system.
The term software radio was
coined by Joe Mitola in 1991
to refer to the class of
reprogrammable
or
reconfigurable radios .

Motivation of SDR

Commercial wireless communication industry is currently

facing problems due to constant evolution of link-layer

protocol standards (2.5G, 3G, and 4G)
Existence of incompatible wireless network technologies in
different countries inhibiting deployment of global roaming
facilities
Problems in rolling-out new services/features due to widespread presence of legacy subscriber handsets.

Advanteges of using Software Defined Radio

Multifunctionality
Flexibility
Global mobility
Long-lived
Advanced visualization and tuning
Compactness and power efficiency

SDR Hardware
A transceiver consists of a receiver section and a transmitter section.
The ideal receiver scheme would be to attach an analog-to-digital converter to an
antenna. A digital signal processor would read the converter, and then its software would
transform the stream of data from the converter to any other form the application
requires.
An ideal transmitter would be similar. A digital signal processor would generate a stream
of numbers. These would be sent to a digital-to-analog converter connected to a radio
antenna.
The main problem in both directions is the difficulty of conversion between the digital and
the analog domains at a high enough rate and a high enough accuracy at the same time,
and without relying upon physical processes like interference and electromagnetic
resonance for assistance.

Software
There are now dozens of software defined radio packages that
support also cheap (like RTL-SDR) and very expensive
dedicated hardware.
The most popular applications are:
SDR#
GNU Radio
Sora
REDHAWK
openHPSDR
PowerSDR

Current usage of Software Defined Radio

Military - The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is a program of the US
military to produce radios that provide flexible and interoperable
communications. Examples of radio terminals that require support include
hand-held, vehicular, airborne and dismounted radios, as well as base-stations
(fixed and maritime).
This goal is achieved through the use of SDR systems based on an
internationally endorsed open Software Communications Architecture (SCA).
This standard uses CORBA on POSIX operating systems to coordinate various
software modules. The program is providing a flexible new approach to meet
diverse soldier communications needs through software programmable radio
technology. All functionality and expandability is built upon the SCA.

Current usage of Software Defined Radio

Radio astronomy - Marcus Leech of Science Radio Laboratories
published apaper entitledA 21cm Radio Telescope for the CostConscious, in which he describes how this can be built using RTLSDR
hardware along with other low cost and easily sourced components, with
the option of using an Ettus Research USRP B100 + WBX daughter card
for improved performance.

The
GNU
Radiobasedapplication
which
has
been created for use with the
system collects total power and
spectral data in real-time.

Current usage of Software Defined Radio

Track ships and aircrafts

Build a GSM network
Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Thank you for your attention