Cross-Layer Architectures, Semantics and Strategies (CLASS)

Next generation radio systems will rely on cross layer interactions for optimizing their performance. The US Army has multiple on-going efforts to develop the next generation of radios under the WIN-T and JTRS programs. There is also substantial interest in the commercial area for developing software-defined radios and cognitive radios. Availability of a tool that can propose an initial design or suggest modifications based on cross layer approaches for specified operational scenarios and objectives, will be of significant value to waveform and radio designers, in both government and commercial sectors. The primary goal of this SBIR is to develop an efficient and accurate CLASS tool to analyze, compare and evaluate various cross-layer approaches against specified objectives and operational scenarios. In Phase I we surveyed and classified the current cross-layer design algorithms, identified the main parameters to tune at every layer along with typical objective performance metrics, provided an overview of the architecture of CLASS tool and illustrated its operation through an example walk-through. In Phase II, we plan to use the results from the Phase I to refine the design of the CLASS tool, implement the tool and demonstrate its use to analyze, compare and evaluate well-known cross layer approaches.