OSDR-Pi: Open Software-Defined Radio with Direct Access to GPU through PCI-e

Software defined radio (SDR) is a technology in which some or all of the physical layer functions are defined in the software. This technology brings the flexibility and cost efficiency supporting data driven wireless technologies. The current design mandates coping data twice to a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-e) and to a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) though a Network Interface Card (NIC). This results in additional latency to transfer data and limits the bandwidth. The USAF is in need of an SDR with capability of transferring data directly from a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) on RF Front End Card to a GPU for further processing. This requirement is well aligned with a Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) approach that results in performance enhancement of an open and configurable system. This concept is a platform independent subsystem that allows a robust system upgrade without dependency on parts or components which might become obsolete. To address this issue, we propose to build OSDR-Pi using our existing designed hardware. We improve our designed SDR (DeepRadio) to provide a direct access to a GPU through PCI-e to expand its capabilities and enhance its performance.