Waveform Agile System Palette (WASP)

The Army seeks a standardized, open architecture, non-proprietary software defined radio (SDR) that may be configured to adapt to various waveforms, frequency bands, bandwidths, and modes of operation to support tactical, terrestrial communications requirements on the battlefield. Specifically, the Army aims to identify and source interoperable, platform agnostic solutions to encourage innovation and economies of scale. Current Army tactical SDRs exhibit proprietary hardware and software integration by various vendors, which reduces potential waveform innovation and competitive pricing for future enhancements and upgrades.Historically, the Army procures waveforms and radio hardware together from the same vendor. The waveform is typically stored in the Information Repository as an artifact. At present, every vendor has their own specific hardware, thus the software which implements any Army waveform is geared to work on their specific hardware, thereby creating a dependency between the Army and a specific vendor.This project addresses the gap between the current approach to waveform/radio procurement and ideal traits of a hardware architecture that include high degree of scalability; commercial off the shelf components (COTS); standardized design interfaces; alignment with army C4ISR Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) and Modular Open RF Architecture (MORA); flexibility and scalability based on current and future hardware; and rapid porting of waveforms to new hardware platforms.ANDROÆs approach centers around software-based waveform implementation. All waveform processing is instantiated in general purpose processors (GPP) in contrast to traditional use of FPGA. Under ANDROÆs intial xTech Waveform Challenge SBIR, we demonstrated equivalent and interoperable performance of BE-CDL with reference radios in air-to-ground scenarios. Key benefits of the approach include greater customer insight into waveform implementation and improved portability. GPPs and SDRs are benefiting from commercial investments leading to continuous improvement year over year. High level source-code is straightforward to compile across different GPPs. Upgrading a deviceÆs performance is as simple as replacing GPP and re-compiling software. Achieving similar upgrades in FPGA can require in-depth redesign impacting cost and schedule.Benefits to the Army include rapid waveform development and fielding to meet emerging threats, hardware agnostic source code for greater portability, support for multiple waveforms in single devices to serve as bridges between various platforms, and greater flexibility to combine SDRs with customized RF-front ends for custom missions.ANDRO is partnered with Sciens Innovations to develop radios meeting CMOSS and MORA standards. The waveforms will integrate with a certified MORA interface demonstrating true separation from an SDR card. ANDRO will demonstrate waveforms of interest lab-based and field-based risk-reduction demonstrations.