Feature Detection Architecture for Low Processing Capable Radios

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) promises much better communications quality and throughput for cognitive radios sharing spectrum with primary users. The most effective DSA radios will use spectrum sensing to identify any opportunities for communications. For purposes of identifying spectrum holes, it is well known that cyclostationary processing approaches offer an order of magnitude performance advantage compared against conventional approaches such as energy detection. However, cyclostationary methods are seldom used in practice due to the implementation complexity. In Phase I, ORB Analytics demonstrated on an FPGA a reduced complexity cyclostationary processor capable of detecting WiFi and WiMAX signals at -10 dB SNR. In Phase II, ORB Analytics will enhance the RTL models for a cyclostationary processing based spectrum sensor that will be integrated on BAE Systems DSA radios and field tested to verify performance against a wide range of waveforms. ORB Analytics'design will be JTRS SCA API-compliant and support porting to DSA-enabled platforms.