National Institute of Justice
Grant 2006-IJ-CX-K043 and 2009-SQ-B9-K007
Title: Realization of a Software-Defined Emergency Radio
Kamran Kiasaleh (Professor, kamran@utdallas.edu, 972-883-2990), PI,
Poras Balsara (Professor, poras@utdallas.edu, 972-883-2557), co-PI,
Dinesh Bhatia (Professor, dinesh@utdallas.edu, 972-883-2386), co-PI
9/24/2012
Submitted by Rachell Reilly, Director, Office of Sponsored Projects, 972-883-2040,
rachell.reilly@utdallas.edu
DUNS: 80-018-8161, EIN: 75-1305566
The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, AD15, Richardson, TX 75080-3021
A Software-Defined Emergency Radio – grant # 2006-IJ-CX-K043,
Project Dates: 9/1/2006-9/30/2012
ARRA: Realization of a Software-defined Emergency Radio – grant # 2009-SQ-B9-K007
Project Dates: 8/1/09 – 8/31/12
Final Report
Rachell Reilly
ACCOMPLISHEMENTS
1. Objectives: The major objective of this project is the realization of a radio transceiver that
meets two major characteristics; first, it must be low-cost and low-power, in-par with the
commercially available wireless telephony devices available today, and second, the device
must be programmable to function as a software-defined radio, allowing the emergency
responder to realize not only a P25, push-to-talk radio, but also a wireless device
compatible with the current standards (in this case, GSM).
2. Achievements
I.
Implementation
We developed a prototype that uses TI’s proprietary DRP technology, originally designed to
implement a GSM radio, to realize a P-25, push-to-talk radio, thereby demonstrating the
potential of DRP chipset to achieve the goals set in the project. The following picture depicts
the transceiver box, which allows one to communicate over 700 MHz frequency band using
P25 signaling format in a push-to-talk format.
The DRP chipset, needless to say, meets the low-power, low-cost requirements for this project
as the chipset was designed to implement inexpensive GSM radios (for the most part, the chip
was designed to realize pre-paid phones). DRP chipset has proven itself in the field as the
“backbone” of the low-cost (under $20), low-power GSM phones deployed worldwide which
are mass-produced by Nokia with billions in sales. The following video clip demonstrates the
capability of the UTD’s Emergency SDR platform, which due to a lack of access to the internal
function of DRP chipset (TI no longer supports this chipset, although it has not stopped the
production of the chip) requires an external board (designed, built, and tested at UTD) which
houses FPGFA and other peripherals:
www.utdallas.edu/~kamran/OCL/fpr/P25_demo.wmv
Nonetheless, the system demonstrates the ability of the caller to place a push-to-talk call using
the 700 MHz band using proprietary antenna structure. The box shown is capable of
establishing communication over 1-2 km (-120 dBm receiver sensitivity). Due to restriction of
the usage of 700 MHz band for experimental purposes, imposed by FCC, the above demo is
done in lab. Furthermore, the core of the device is the FPGA and DRP chipsets that can be
fabricated onto a pocket size platform. To demonstrate this task, we implemented the design
onto an off-chip board. Provided the limitation imposed upon the research team at UTD, which
prevented us from a full access to the chipset internal functions, this is the last possible step
that one can take toward demonstrating an SDR platform based on a low-cost, low-power,
commercially available chipset, designed for realizing a low-cost cellular GSM handset.
UTD’s offices of technology commercialization along with the investigators have taken an active
role in the commercialization of the developed technology. To that end, UTD has created a brief
description of the SDR technology for first responders, shown at the end of this report, for the
dissemination among interested parties.
We have also been in contact with a number of sources for the commercialization of this
technology, as mandated by the project objective. To that end, currently we are in discussion
with SUTIMCO (www.suti.com) to license this technology for further commercialization.
II.
Research Contribution
This research activity has resulted in one major patent:
 toward a realization of emergency responders radio based on commercially
available cellular technology, issued on Sep. 4, 2012 (US 8,260,279 B2), entitled,
“System, Method and Apparatus for Providing Communications that Conform
to a Cellular Communication Standard and a non-Cellular Communication
Standard”

In addition to numerous conference presentations and papers, this
research has led to 5 key publications in IEEE Transactions on Antennas
and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on Circuit and Systems, IEEE
Transactions on Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics,
and IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

In summary, this research has resulted in the development of a modified
particle swarm optimization technique (PSO), which is critical to
reconfigurable platforms operating in real time. The proposed technique
is shown to be far more superior to the standard PSO technique. The
journal publications (with Arezoo Modiri, a Ph.D. student involved with
the project) in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation and IEEE
Transactions on Magnetics have been cited numerously [13]-[15]. It is of
paramount importance to underscore the significance of this discovery,
which will enable computing platforms reconfigure themselves in
expeditious manner, for any future implementation of a viable SDR
solution.

This research also has led to the introduction of a novel, computationally
efficient clock synchronization technique for reconfigurable platforms
(refs. [8] and [16]). The result of this discovery was published in IEEE
Transactions on Circuit and Systems and IEEE Transactions on Consumer
Electronics. Provided that clock synchronization is a key feature of any
digital receiver, often responsible for dropped calls, loss of
communication, etc., the result of this research is a noticeable
contribution to the field of SDR.
 A novel antenna design technique using PSO that can reconfigure antenna
pattern in real time using programmable platform (DSP) was also introduced and
investigated. This technique will be of critical importance to the design of an
SDR solution where receiver/transmitter antenna reconfiguration must be
achieved in real time.
A detailed list of refereed publications, conference presentation, and invited talks is
given below:
List of Publication related to the porject
1. A Practical Step Forward Toward Software-Defined Radio Transmitters, Kamran Kiasaleh
(with E. Atalla, I. Bashir, P. Balsara, B. Staszewski), IEEE Dallas Circuit and System
Workshop on System-on-Chip, Dallas, Texas, (Nov. 2007)
2. Novel Receiver Architecture for the Detection of QAM Signals in the Presence of
Residual Phase Error and Channel Fading, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Beilei Zhang), MICOM
2007 (IEEE), Orlando, FL, (Oct. 2007)
3. Broadband receiver design on FPGA, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Beilei Zhang), IEEE
International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Systems and Broadcasting, Las
Vegas, NV (March 2008)
4. Challenges and Promises of Software-Defined Radio, Kamran Kiasaleh, Invited talk, IEEEAPS Meeting, Dallas, TX (Dec. 2008)
5. Partially-Coherent Receiver Architectures for QAM Communications in the Presence of
Non-constant Phase Estimation Error, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Beilei Zhang), IEEE
Transactions on Wireless Communications, 8, No. 2, (2009), pp. 568-573
6. Low complexity digital clock recovery algorithm for implementation in software-defined
radios, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Ali Montazeri), IEEE International Conference on Signal
Processing and Communication Systems (ICSPCS), Omaha, NE (Oct. 2009)
7. DSP implementation of a DRP™ -based low cost software-defined emergency radio,
Kamran Kiasaleh (with Gaurav Sureka), IEEE International Conference on Signal
Processing and Communication Systems (ICSPCS), Omaha, NE (Oct. 2009)
8. Design and Performance Analysis of a Low Complexity Digital Clock Recovery
Algorithm for Software-Defined Radio Applications, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Ali
Montazeri), IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 56¸ No. 3, (2010), pp. 12581263
9. Efficient Design of Microstrip Antennas using Modified PSO Algorithm, Kamran Kiasaleh
(with Arezoo Modiri), Biennial IEEE Conference on Electromagnetic Field Computation
(CEFC), Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/CEFC.2010.5481558, Chicago, IL (May 2010)
10. A Clock Recovery Algorithm for Software Defined Radios and Performance Analysis over
a Frequency non-selective Fading Channel, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Ali Montazeri),
Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance Conference (ICNS), Digital
Object Identifier: 10.1109/ICNSURV.2010.5503336, Hanover, VA (May 2010)
11. Energy-Efficient Filter Design Algorithm for Intelligent Software-Defined Radios, Kamran
Kiasaleh (with Gaurav Sureka and Xiaojiang Tian), Proceedings of the Second Annual
European Reconfigurable Radio Technologies Workshop, Mainz Germany (June 2010)
12. A low-cost, low-power DSP/FPGA/DRP-based Software-Defined Radio for Emergency
Responders, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Zhengjie Liu, Gaurav Sureka, Xiaojiang Tian, Allen
Web, Anish Nair), ICASSP 2010 Show and Tell, Dallas, TX (March 16, 2010)
13. Modification of Real-Number and Binary PSO Algorithms for Accelerated
Convergence, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Arezoo Modiri), IEEE Transactions on Antennas
and Propagation, 59¸ No. 1, (2011), pp. 214-224
14. Efficient Design of Microstrip Antennas for SDR Applications Using Modified PSO
Algorithm, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Arezoo Modiri), IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 47¸
No. 5, (2011), pp. 1278-1281
15. DSP Implementation of the Particle Swarm and Genetic Algorithms for Real-Time
Design of Thinned Array Antennas, Kamran Kiasaleh (with Damin Cao, Arezoo Modiri,
Gaurav Sureka), IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 11, 2012.
16. Low-Power Spectral-Line Clock Recovery Algorithm for SDR Applications, Kamran
Kiasaleh (with Ali Montazeri and Allen Webb), IEEE Transactions on Circuit and
Systems II, 58¸ No. 11, (2011), pp. 773-777
17. A demonstration of an Emergency SDR platform, Innovation Showcase (Dallas, TX), RCIC,
August 30, 2012.
18. Novel UWB Hybrid Dipole Antenna with Quasi-Isotropic Radiation Pattern, Kamran
Kiasaleh (with Arezoo Modiri and Jaskaran Singh), accepted for presentation at IEEE
Radio Wireless Week (RWW2013), Jan. 2013, Austin Texas.
3. Training Opportunity: This project involved and provided research support, either fully
or partially, for a large number of MS and Ph.D. students. Students were afforded an
opportunity to design algorithms, simulate, and implement their algorithms using realworld platforms. This is a complete cycle of an engineering endeavor. Furthermore, this
project provided an environment where students could develop a commercially viable
platform, learn about the needs of emergency responders and test the implemented
platforms in a realistic environment. Furthermore, an invited talk was given, along with
a show-and-tell session at ICASSP conference and a demonstration at Dallas Innovation
Showcase, organized by North Texas Regional Center for Innovation &
Commercialization (North Texas RCIC) http://ntxrcic.org/, in order to educate the
scientific and engineering community regarding the problem of realizing a low-cost, lowpower radio for emergency responders and our solution to this important problem.
Ultimately, the best form of training is the production of MS and Ph.D. students. The
following list provides further information regarding the participating students and their
respective standings at UTD:
1. Beilei Zhang (Ph.D.)
2. Ali Montazeri (Ph.D.)
3. Arezoo Modiri (Ph.D.)
4. Gaurav Sureka (Ph.D.)
5. Anish Nair (Ph.D.)
6. Essam Attala (Ph.D.)
7. Xiaojiang Tian (Ph.D.)
8. Imran Bashir (Ph.D.)
9. Praveen Aroul (Ph.D.)
10. Allen Webb (MS)
11. Qi Li (MS)
12. Damin Cao (MS)
13. Zhengjie Liu (MS)
14. Jay Shah (MS)
15. Jaskaran Singh (M
4. Dissemination of Results:
For the most part, the dissemination of results has been in the form of scientific conference
paper presentations, journal publications, show-and-tell demo at a major signal processing
conference, and presentation to potential venture capitals and institutional investors in a
premier entrepreneurship showcase. A list of publication is provided above. A number of
invited talks were also given to stimulate interest in the subject, raise awareness regarding this
important problem and how it impacts the nation’s first responders, and solicit ideas for
commercialization.
An indirect, yet effective means of disseminating information was pursued as well. To
elaborate, a 3-page (see above) brief was created by the office of technology commercialization
and was distributed to potential investors and interested parties. This format of advertising was
received favorably by participants in the RCIC technology showcase in Dallas in Aug. 2012.
Information Technology Solutions
The University of Texas at Dallas is seeking companies interested in commercializing a
revolutionary new Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology which overcomes the
limitations of conventional hardware-based radio by providing an RF modulator (the
radio “front end”) that is completely software-defined and not based on the physical
layer. This is accomplished through UTD’s patent-pending reconfiguration of the lowcost, low-power, commercially-available Texas Instruments LoCostoTM single-chip GSM
radio.
Whereas traditional radio devices are limited to operating within specific hardwaredefined parameters, this reconfigured GSM radio provides a “Universal Transceiver”
chip capable of transmitting, receiving, and switching between, any given modulation
type, frequency, or bandwidth, including common communication standards such as
GSM/EDGE, Project 25 (P25), 802.11b,g,n (WiFi), 802.16 (WiMAX), Bluetooth, ZigBee,
etc.
Additionally, the transceiver’s SDR software can be upgraded over-the-air while the
radio is in operation, allowing new wireless features, capabilities, and communication
standards to be added to SDR radio systems without requiring any new hardware. This
ensures that SDR-enabled equipment will not become outdated or obsolete
as communication standards evolve.
Applications
Communication difficulties between various federal, state, and local public
safety agencies using disparate proprietary radio hardware is a well-known
problem, resulting in poorly-coordinated emergency responses and delayed
processing of urgent information. This was the impetus behind the P25 radio
standard which has been designed as a “common” communication protocol
to allow interoperability between different agencies, irrespective of radio
hardware manufacturer.
Conventional P25 radios are built using numerous specialty discrete
components and complex board designs, resulting in very expensive
equipment which is bulky, heavy, and inefficient. Because of this, adoption of
P25 radio hardware has been slow.
When implemented as a P25 radio, UTD’s SDR technology promises to significantly
reduce the size, weight, and cost of P25-compliant radio communication equipment for
the public safety, security, military, utility, and transportation industries.
Applications Include:
P25 Portable and Mobile Radios
P25 Base Stations
Wireless Bridge for IP Integration into P25
networks.
Wireless “Smart” Power Meters
Adaptive/Cognitive/Intelligent Radio
Advantages
Reduced
Time To
Market
 Complete SDR solution is implemented in a single, “off-theshelf” TI GSM chip, leveraging “economies of scale” and highly
integrated features such as high-resolution QVGA color display,
USB 2.0 connectivity, and mass storage capability.
 Eliminates the need for custom board design.
 Eliminates the need to design of complex RF modulation
circuitry. Variety of distinct radio products can be based on
common architecture platform.
Low Power
Consumption
 TI GSM chip has been specifically optimized for low-power
mobile phone applications.
Low
Component
Cost
Light
Weight/
Small Form
Factor
Software
Flexibility
Reliability
 Combines the functionality of multiple conventional P25
hardware components into a single GSM chip, enabling fullfeatured P25 radio to be implemented in mobile phone form
factor.
 Power efficiency enables reduced battery size.
 SDR software is upgradeable “over-the-air”, allowing easy
deployment of bug fixes, new wireless features, and
communication standards to be added.
 Reduces hardware obsolescence.
 Proven reliability of TI GSM chip in consumer mobile
applications.
Low Risk
 Fully P25 C4FM (continuous 4-level FM)-compliant data signal
has been demonstrated using this technology (see figure X).
Technology
A “Universal Transceiver” chip has been developed by reconfiguring the internal
software of the Texas Instruments LoCostoTM chip (a reconfigurable, programmable,
low-cost, Digital RF Processor (DRP)-based single-chip GSM/EDGE radio currently used in
low-power GSM mobile phones).
This GSM radio chip’s software
has been successfully
reconfigured to modulate the
RF carrier signal with P25compliant C4FM (continuous
4-level FM) data. The plot to
the left illustrates how the
actual measured output of this
invention exactly matches that
of an ideal P25 signal.
Note that the P25 digital
public safety standard
operates in the 746-806 MHz
frequency band, which is different from the normal operating band of the GSM/EDGE
chip. The modulation of this P25 signal is based completely in software, without the
need for any hardware modifications to the chip or ancillary circuitry.
This technology is patent pending. Click here to view patent application.
Inventors
Kamran Kiasaleh, PhD., is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas
at Dallas and is the Associate Department Head of the Electrical Engineering program.
His research experience in the area of telecommunications spans over 24 years in
industrial and academic settings. He was the recipient of a National Science Foundation
(NSF) research initiation award and a NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) group
achievement award for a Galileo experiment - the first successful optical
communications demonstration with a deep-space vehicle. He holds three patents, one
of which is implemented in 3rd generation wireless communication receivers. He is a
senior member of IEEE and holds a Professional Engineering license in the state of
Texas.
Poras Balsara, Ph.D., is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at
Dallas and is also associated with its Center for Integrated Circuits and Systems. His
research and teaching interests include VLSI design, design of energy efficient digital
circuits and systems, computer arithmetic, VLSI architectures and algorithms for DSP
and telecommunications, and reconfigurable architectures. Current research topics
include: Energy efficient digital systems, VLSI circuits and architectures for DSP and
telecommunications, and
reconfigurable digital
systems.
Licensing Opportunity
This technology is
available for exclusive and
non-exclusive licensing.