communications
Government Services, Incorporated
Software Defined Radio for Public
Safety
Presentation to the National Conference on Emergency Communication
13 December 2005
Fred Frantz
Director, Law Enforcement Programs, L-3 GSI
Chair, Software Defined Radio Forum Public Safety Special Interest Group
Outline
• Background
• Potential benefits of software defined
radio technology for emergency
communication
• Critical issues in technology
development and deployment
• Future steps
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Background - 1
• L-3 GSI activities funded by the National
Institute of Justice CommTech Program
– CommTech program goal is facilitate
development and deployment of
communications technology to
(primarily) state and local public
safety personnel/first responders
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Voice over IP
Advanced wireless data
Non-terrestrial communications
Software defined radios
Cognitive radios
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Background – 2
• What is software defined radio?
– Technologies that enable reconfigurable system
architectures for wireless networks and user
terminals (SDR Forum)
– E.g., technology that implements control of
radio operating parameters (frequency,
modulation type, power, etc.) in software.
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Work with SDR Forum
• SDR Forum – international consortium of
organizations dedicated to advancing SDR
technology
• Established the Public Safety Special Interest
Group
– Representation includes public safety organizations, traditional
public safety LMR vendors, commercial companies, regulators,
military
• Over past year the Public Safety SIG has been
drafting a report analyzing issues associated with
developing SDR technology for public safety
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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SDR Technology for Public Safety
• Today’s public safety radios are
SDRs—providing multi-protocol
radios
– Conventional, legacy, P25
• Beyond multi-protocol
– Multi-band
– Multi-service
– Cognitive applications
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Potential Benefits of SDR for Public
Safety
• Seamless interoperability
– Multi-band
– Multi-service
• Support for highly dynamic networks
• Support for “system of system”
• Life cycle cost reduction
– Reduce cost of upgrading and reprogramming
– Simplify technology upgrades
• Foundation for cognitive applications that
can yield performance enhancements
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Technical Challenges—Antennas and
Front Ends
• Portable multi-band antennas across
VHF/UHF/800
• Size/weight/power constraints on
processing in portable devices
• Support for processing across broad range
of frequency bands
• Support for processing across diverse
services
– Linear vs non-linear wave issues may limit types of modes that can be
cost-effectively implemented in single device
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Technical Challenges—Security
• Capabilities such as potential over-theair reprogramming add significant
security challenges
– Interoperability could be impacted if security
regimes are not coordinated/interoperable
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Technical Challenges—Standards
• Role of additional standards in public
safety SDRs is open question
– Traditional approach in public safety such as
P25 defines standard interface between
devices, between systems, between device and
infrastructure
– Alternative such as JTRS SCA defines standard
interfaces within a device
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Technical Challenge—Cognitive
Applications
• Focus on performance enhancement
– For example, adjust waveform parameters to
adjust to dynamic RF environment
• Spectrum sharing requires significantly
more spectrum utilization data
– No comprehensive studies of spectrum
utilization have been done to look at spectrum
utilization across public safety and non-public
safety bands during major events and incidents
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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Where Are We Headed?
– SDR Forum Public Safety SIG Report scheduled for completion in
January, 2006
• Multi-band capabilities are on the near-term
horizon
– NIJ currently working multi-band operational pilot to collect
operational lessons learned
– NIJ currently sponsoring and soliciting R&D in multi-band SDRs
• Multi-service capabilities will require some
additional refinement of functional requirements
within marketplace
• Cognitive applications will be overlaid over time
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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So What Does This Mean for
Emergency Communications?
• SDR multi-band radios can address
multi-band interoperability issues
– Does not directly address the issues of legacy
proprietary systems
• Future capabilities such as multiservice SDRs and cognitive
performance enhancing capabilities on
the horizon
© 2002 L-3 Communications Analytics Corporation • Web: www.L-3com.com/analytics • 2600 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180 • (703) 641-7100 Fax (703) 641-7182
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