CAD Tool for Radio Communications

Communications radios consist of an increasingly large and complex set of waveforms. The amount of time and effort needed to transform a waveform design into an implementation and perform necessary testing and validation, combined with system integration tasks, commonly results in a development period of several years. Therefore, we propose a CAD tool for the domain of communications waveform design which will significantly reduce waveform development time, simplify the development process, and allow for waveform optimizations which are not currently practical. We propose an approach whereby a waveform designer has maximum control over the overall waveform design that is eventually implemented in the hardware without requiring the waveform designer to understand lower level specifics. Through the development of a waveform representation language and library of communication blocks which can be assembled by the waveform designer, waveforms can be quickly specified and implemented. These waveforms can then be placed on a test radio, where the waveform undergoes automated and semi-automated procedures to validate and test the waveform"s operation.