[Discuss-gnuradio] [Premium-Rx] ONR Announces an "All Digital" Receiver

[Ed Tanton]

An article I ran across just now... originally in Science Daily 
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/>. Now THIS is/will be a "Premium Receiver"!!! 
Of course, WE have been using partially-digital DSP-filtered receivers for 
several years now... and we have analog/digital receivers that will cover 
some of the range of this rcvr (2MHz - 2 GHz)... but this one sure sounds 
interesting.
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Everyone has heard the horror stories—from rescue units frantically trying 
to communicate during the terrifying first hours after the Twin Towers were 
struck, to communications crises during the most recent war. The cause? 
Emergency radios that could not find a clear channel amidst the noise of 
all the other signals, and systems that are not compatible.

The Office of Naval Research has moved the Navy—and all the services—a big 
step closer to needing only one radio to talk to the many already in 
service with the development of an all-digital radio receiver. The inherent 
accuracy and very high processing speed enable these receivers to handle 
multiple simultaneous signals spread over considerably wider communications 
bandwidths.

HYPRES Inc., a small New York State company, is building the new digital 
receivers. Deborah Van Vechten, program officer in ONR’s Electronics 
division, says that this company will deliver a demonstration receiver that 
simultaneously “digitizes” all the signals in the most critical 
over-the-horizon military communications bands (HF and VHF) and uses a 
technique called software-controlled digital filtering to select the 
signals to output.

Such software control is the fundamental innovation required to realize the 
Department of Defense’s vision for the joint tactical radio system (JTRS) 
program, now underway, which seeks to develop a generic radio for all the 
services. This program addresses the lack of interoperability among the 
“stovepipe-type” tactical radios, in use aboard ships, aircraft, and 
carried by ground units. Each handle only a single proprietary waveform. 
Such radios require expensive hardware changes to communicate with other 
radios. Software control allows the user to select the waveform he wishes 
to receive and transmit in real time.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marines were overwhelmed with the high 
number of varied communications equipment they were expected to use, a 
situation that was exacerbated in some vehicles where every “shelf” was 
taken up by a radio and seat spaces and floor space was taken up with open 
computers for communications devices. Marines recounted numerous instances 
where units would call via one radio to verify that a message was received, 
while the receiving unit had just put that radio aside to monitor another 
since a previous unit had called asking about the receipt of a digital 
photo. In Field Reports during the war, consolidation of communications 
assets / capabilities was cited as a priority. Software-controlled radios 
can be customized for multiple missions, integrated with older fielded 
systems, and be upgraded by the easy and cheap insertion of software 
modules instead of new hardware.

The services plan to purchase thousands of new JTRS tactical radios per 
year. The new units should drastically simplify joint operations and 
logistics support. Only minimal changes will be required for one radio to 
cover the entire JTRS range (2 Megahertz to 2 Gigahertz), or even the newly 
announced 2 Megahertz to 55 Gigahertz range.

The new JTRS radios also will replace older analog communications 
components with digital technology, a change that will reduce the 
complexity and cost of the radios. HYPRES already is teamed with Boeing, 
winner of the JTRS “Cluster 1” contract for the Army. The company now is 
hoping to get selected for Cluster 3, the maritime JTRS, which is managed 
by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

Van Vechten says that the HYPRES receiver will be able to listen to signals 
of varying data rates that have been “layered” on top of each other, 
improving data transmission rates. She adds that the HYPRES technology also 
provides a simultaneous “stare and scan” capability that may meet the some 
of needs of one of ONR’s flagship efforts, the advanced multi-function 
radio frequency system concept, now called AMRF-C. The AMRF-C initiative, 
set for a major demonstration next year, aims at developing a highly 
reconfigurable set of antenna apertures to handle all shipboard radio 
communications, radar, and electronic warfare systems.

73 Ed Tanton N4XY <address@hidden>

Ed Tanton N4XY
189 Pioneer Trail
Marietta, GA 30068-3466

website: http://www.n4xy.com

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