Agile Space Radio (ASR)

ABSTRACT: DataSoft leverages its considerable military and commercial SDR experience to determine the desired ASR capabilities and critical enabling technologies, including SDR and CR technologies, which are essential to developing the ASR. Any gaps in technology are identified, and target requirements for the ASR are captured. DataSoft defines an ASR architecture that is both generic and versatile. It improves on several complex problems, including interoperability issues, by defining a fully reconfigurable radio using the latest digital and RF technologies to improve cost, size, power consumption and RF performance. Finally, DataSoft develops a Program Plan to design and build a feasible ASR prototype. The plan details multiple stages of rapid hardware development followed by circuit refinements and software integration efforts. The plan concludes with a final demonstration of the ASR prototype to all interested U.S. Government stakeholders. BENEFIT: DataSoft"s overall approach identifies technology advances and contrasts various ideas in order to develop the complete SDR-based ASR that incorporates innovative hardware components and demonstrates superior wideband operation with re-programmability for waveform processing and cognitive awareness of its RF environment. The DataSoft ASR architecture explores potential efficiencies across the entire transceiver and leverages our extensive, detailed military and commercial SDR platform design experience. DataSoft has successfully demonstrated its ability to build rapid hardware prototypes using a proven methodology. Our Program Plan to develop a feasible ASR prototype during Phase II saves time and money by producing early units for evaluation. Through repeated refinement, integration, and performance evaluation, the ASR architecture is developed and evaluated incrementally. The result is a final customer demonstration and a Program Plan for the high performance, reconfigurable ASR platform at the conclusion of Phase II.