An Evaluation of Software Defined Radio – Main Document
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UNCLASSIFIED This document has been produced by QinetiQ, Defence and Technology Systems for Ofcom under contract number 410000262 and provides an evaluation of software defined radio. An Evaluation of Software Defined Radio – Main Document Editor: Dr. Taj A. Sturman QinetiQ/D&TS/COM/PUB0603670/Version 1.0 15th Mar 2006 Requests for wider use or release must be sought from: QinetiQ Ltd Cody Technology Park Farnborough Hampshire GU14 0LX Copyright © QinetiQ Ltd 2006 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Administration page Customer Information Customer reference number N/A Project title An Evaluation of Software Defined Radio – Main Document Customer Organisation The Office of Communications (Ofcom) Customer contact Ahmad Atefi Contract number 410000262 Milestone number Of/Qi/002 Date due March 2006 Editor Taj A. Sturman MAL (801) 5378 PB315, QinetiQ, St. Andrews Rd, WR14 3PS [email protected] Principal authors Alister Burr University of York Julie Fitzpatrick QinetiQ Tim James Multiple Access Communications Ltd. Markus Rupp Technical University of Vienna Stephan Weiss University of Southampton Release Authority Name Ian Cox Post Business Group Manager Date of issue March 2006 Record of changes Issue Date Detail of Changes Version 0.1 05th Aug 2005 Creation of initial document including structure. Version 0.2 25th Aug 2005 First draft for review. Version 0.3 5th Mar 2006 Incorporation of reviewed comments. Version 1.0 15th Mar 2006 First Issue. QinetiQ/D&TS/COM/PUB0603670/Version 1.0 Page 2 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Executive Summary This document provides an evaluation of software defined radio (SDR). In an SDR, some or all of the signal path and baseband processing is implemented by software, normally in the digital domain, that is, the term SDR refers to how the lower layer functionality is implemented. Crucially, the low level functionality of the radio in an SDR can be altered through changes to the software, without any physical changes to the hardware. The realisation of SDRs represents a significant step in the evolution of radio. Two documents have arisen out of this study: An Overview Document and the Main Document (which is this document). It is the intention of this Main Document to provide a relatively detailed account of a particular subject and corresponding references for access to additional information on a particular subject. Due to the sheer volume of this Main Document, each chapter is self-contained and therefore, whilst this gives rise to some repetition, it should enable some ease in dealing with a particular subject of interest. Considering the processes involved in the reception (or the inverse processes for transmission) of information from the point of reception of electro-magnetic waves in the radio channel to the corresponding information for the user, the following system-related issues are involved. An antenna system is required to handle the air/electrical interface. This might range from a single, passive antenna to an array of ‘active’, i.e., reconfigurable, antennas controlled by software. The interface between the analogue and digital domains will be handled by analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) on the receive side and digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) on the transmit side. Due to limitations in these devices and for the foreseeable future at least, the radio frequency (RF) front-end, incorporating RF amplification and limited frequency translation, will still have to be implemented in the analogue domain (albeit under the control of software). Once in the digital domain, an SDR might use a device such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to implement certain ‘high-speed’ functions, such as mixing, filtering and sample rate conversion and/or ‘general purpose’ processors or digital signal processors (DSPs) to implement ‘low speed’ functions. The demodulated data are passed to/received from higher level ‘application’ software, as in more conventional radio architectures. Note that, although the higher level functionality might be implemented in software, this does not automatically classify a radio as an SDR; for a radio to qualify as an SDR, it is the low level, i.e., physical layer, data link layer and parts of the network layer functionality that must be implemented in software. QinetiQ/D&TS/COM/PUB0603670/Version 1.0 Page 3 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED In its simplest form, an SDR might emulate the function of a conventional radio transceiver, replacing some or all of the analogue frequency translation, filtering, modulation and/or demodulation functions with software defined equivalents. An example of this might be the implementation of a stereo frequency modulation (FM) receiver using no more than a high-speed ADC, an FPGA and an audio DAC. A longer term vision of SDR is the development of generic radio platforms that can be reconfigured ‘on-the-fly’, possibly by means of over-the-air downloads, to target multiple radio standards operating over a wide range of carrier frequencies. Realisation of this long-term vision might ultimately lead to the emergence of cognitive radios (CRs), radios that intelligently combine an awareness of the local radio environment with the requirements of the user to reconfigure themselves dynamically to provide the most appropriate and cost-effective communications link possible. Note that a common misconception is to interchange the terms SDR and CR. Put into a layperson’s terms, the term ‘SDR’ simply refers to a flexible, reconfigurable radio platform whose operation is defined in software. In itself, an SDR has no intelligence. The term ‘CR’ refers to a high-level control entity that intelligently manages the configuration and operation of the radio. It is not a requirement that a CR be implemented using an SDR, or that an SDR has cognitive capabilities. Having said this, SDR is likely to be an enabling technology for CR because of the potential that SDR provides for flexible, reconfigurable radio platforms to be realised. It is further noted that it is not a requirement of an SDR that it be reprogrammable after manufacture, or even that it must support multiple radio standards and/or true wideband operation. In the case of the latter, as stated above, true wideband operation will be dependent on more conventional, analogue architectures, for the foreseeable future anyway. That is, most SDRs effectively will consist of a flexible, analogue RF front-end, with digital domain processing interfaced at some intermediate frequency (IF). Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) communications industry regulator, has acknowledged the emergence of SDR and is keen to gain a better understanding of the technologies behind SDR and the possible ramifications for the regulation and management of spectrum usage in the future. To this end Ofcom has commissioned a study to consider key aspects of the SDR technology. The study was awarded to a consortium of five members. Headed by QinetiQ, this consortium also includes Multiple Access Communications (MAC) Ltd, the University of Southampton, the University of York and the Vienna University of Technology. This document is the culmination of three phases of study, which in broad terms, addresses the following three key groups: • Technology Requirement Enablers • Assessment of SDR • Spectrum efficiency gains of SDR and CR. In the context of subject categories, these three key groups fall under the following headings: • Antennas • RF (Radio Frequency) Linearisation • Antenna Processing QinetiQ/D&TS/COM/PUB0603670/Version 1.0 Page 4 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED • MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) Technology and SDR • Waveforms • Software Aspects • Security • Radio Management and CR • Regulatory Issues • Commercial Drivers • SDR: An Assessment of First Applications and Areas of Deployment • Spectrum Efficiency Gains of SDR and CR. Of these, QinetiQ was responsible for the antenna, software aspects, security, radio management including CR and an assessment of first applications and areas of deployment for SDR; MAC Ltd considered the regulatory issues, commercial drivers and the spectrum efficiency gains of SDR and CR; the University of Southampton investigated antenna processing and waveforms; the University of York provided the discussion on MIMO technology and the Vienna University of Technology considered RF linearisation. Of the topics investigated, we note that some, namely antennas, RF linearisation, MIMO and cognitive radio and radio management, are not necessarily specific to SDR, or even a requirement of SDR. However, these topics become relevant when considering the longer-term vision for SDR. This report represents the culmination of these essential subject areas. Antennas Traditional radio systems are limited to transmission and reception in narrow bands within the RF spectrum. Whilst this has advantages in minimising interference to users in neighbouring bands, it restricts the flexibility of individual transceiver units since they tend to be application-specific, e.g., a portable FM radio receiver (operating at ~100 MHz) cannot receive mobile telephony signals (operating at, say, 1900 MHz). From a general antenna perspective, these narrowband systems relax the constraints on antenna design; it is extremely difficult to design a truly wideband antenna, e.g., an antenna that can operate, say, across the range of 20 MHz to 2000 MHz. It is likely that commercial, ‘wideband’ SDRs, as with current multi-band handsets, initially at least, will be restricted to operating in multiple, distinct frequency bands specified at