Software Defined Radio Terminals Research Articles

A New Model Based Design of SDR for Reducing Error Transmission

In this paper, a SDR model-based concept approach to the implementation of SDR digital communication. The wireless communication systems are a popular prototyping platform. We propose to create a secure, private wireless channel between two SDR (Software Defined Radio) terminals. It is not the safest option to transfer sensitive data wirelessly via the web. We, therefore, offer an alternative short distance use of the internet for the transmission of secured data. We have implemented different modulation and encoding methods and we have compared their performance with Matlab with the main aim of reducing the BER bit error rate. An entire digital communication system is installed and validated via on-air demonstration that includes a transmitter with an encoder and a receiver. For hardware efficiency, synchronization algorithms including offset stage, offset carrier frequency and recovery time are also optimized.

System scenarios-based architecture level exploration of SDR application using a network-on-chip simulation framework

Software-defined radio (SDR) terminals are critical to enable concrete and consecutive inter-working between fourth generation wireless access systems or communication modes. Next generation of SDR terminals will have heavy hardware requirements and the switching between the different resource utilization modes will introduce dynamism in respect to timing and size of resource requests. This study exploits the flexibility of a system-level framework, combining a cycle-accurate Network-on-Chip (NoC) simulation environment with an SDR simulator, applying the systems scenario methodology. The aim of our framework is to characterize an SDR platform considering the design trade-offs at an early development phase. The main scope is to define a design space of optimal platform configuration points for a potential SDR resource manager. The purpose is to achieve an efficient resource utilization retaining the reconfiguration cost in reasonable levels. To handle the complexity of the design space, we introduced in the framework the concept of the system scenarios. The system scenario methodology classifies all the run-time situations of the system into cost representative situations. However, this introduces an overhead which is admeasured at the reconfiguration cost. In our case study, we achieve significant resource savings decreasing the energy consumption by 45–73% (based on the system’s deadlines).

Addressing of software downloads to reconfigurable terminals in UMTS

Over-the-air software download is a key enabler for many aspects related to the reconfiguration of terminals based on software-defined radio (SDR). Different mechanisms for advertising the availability of software enhancements to a group of SDR terminals in universal mobile telecommunication system networks are evaluated. In order to exploit efficiencies in terms of transmission and processing, addressing strategies that allow the subsequent download to be performed in a multicast fashion are considered. A novel scheme for advertising software to only those terminals that are targeted by the download is introduced. On the basis of cost analysis, it is shown that the proposed scheme performs favourably compared with other viable schemes for performing software upgrade announcements.

Analysis and implementation of six-port software-defined radio receiver platform

With recent advances in semiconductor processing technology and the development of reconfigurable devices, high bit-rate software-defined radio (SDR) has become practical for commercial applications. This paper proposes an SDR receiver platform based on a new substrate integrated waveguide six-port structure. This SDR receiver platform operates from 22 to 26 GHz and it is designed to be robust, low cost, and suitable for different communication schemes. In this study, the receiver is demonstrated to support quadrature phase-shift keying and 16 quadrature amplitude modulation schemes. System-level simulation is made and prototype circuits are fabricated to evaluate the system performance. It is found that the combination of SDR and six-port technology can provide a great flexibility in system configuration, a significant reduction in system development cost, and also a high potential for software reuse. The proposed receiver shows a possible application of universal direct demodulator for future SDR terminals in various wireless communication systems.

A framework for secure download for software-defined radio

This article proposes a framework for establishing secure download for software-defined radio (SDR) that follows the current recommendations of SDR-related organizations, and can be employed in a variety of SDR architectures. The main goals of the security system are verification of the declared identity of the source that produces the software to be downloaded, control and verification of integrity of the downloaded data, disabling of the ability to run unauthorized software on the software-defined terminal, and secrecy of the transmitted data to prevent problems such as loss of intellectual property contained in the software. The system includes the following parties: manufacturers of the terminal hardware and software; government authorities relevant for SDR and users of SDR terminals. The underlying ideas for system development include employment of four different cryptographic techniques and tamper-resistant hardware. The cryptographic techniques employed are a secret key encryption technique, a public key encryption technique, a technique for cryptographic hashing, and a technique for digital signature. An important feature of the system is that it provides the possibility to exchange cryptographic components in an automatic manner. The proposed system is flexible, highly secure to protect both users and manufacturers, and provides a framework for the secure commercial implementation of SDR.