SCA Certification Guide and Public Safety Radio System Cost Model Approved at The SDR Forum’s 62nd Meeting in Madrid

MADRID, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The SDR Forum’s (http://www.sdrforum.org) 100+ membership approved two documents: an SCA Certification Guide, and a Public Safety Radio System Cost Model during its 62^nd General Meeting. The SDR Forum is an international wireless industry member consortium dedicated to promoting the success of next generation radio technologies.

“The release of these two reports represents an important step in the evolution of the advanced wireless industry in two key market domains – defense and public safety”

The SCA Certification Guide is twofold: it proposes a generic certification process, suitable for certification activities in the context of Software Defined Radio (SDR) and then applies the generic process to SCA conformance certification. The Public Safety Radio System Cost Model describes a tool for estimating total lifecycle costs associated with any public safety radio system and a methodology for determining cost impact to that system for incorporating new SDR technologies.

“The release of these two reports represents an important step in the evolution of the advanced wireless industry in two key market domains – defense and public safety,” said Lee Pucker, CEO of The SDR Forum. “These reports simplify the business case analysis associated with employing SDR technologies and help to promote an ecosystem of vendors with interoperable products. This in turn allows radio manufacturers to reduce cost for their customers, and this savings is ultimately passed on to the end user.”

Other notable accomplishments at The SDR Forum’s meeting included:

• The creation of a Cognitive Radio Database Project, which will extend the existing FCC specification by providing guidance for enabling and testing enhanced future cognitive radio databases that can support near-real-time updates of location, ID, and operating conditions (e.g., interference levels, waveform, associated network, etc.) by capturing and synthesizing measurements from many radios, including DSA radios and mobile radios, to allow for more dynamic protection of incumbents, more advanced spectrum allocation mechanisms such as real-time spectrum auctions and real-time coexistence protocols, and spectrum brokering between secondary systems. The group kicks off its activities at The SDR Forum’s 63rd General Meeting, to be held June 15-18 in Dearborn, Michigan.
• Teams advancing to the second round of the 3^rd annual Smart Radio Challenge were announced. A worldwide competition in which student engineering teams design, develop and test software defined radio (SDR) or cognitive radio technologies that address relevant problems in the advanced wireless market, the Smart Radio Challenge will have seven student teams this year:
  • Notre Dame – Team Notre Dame
  • Penn State University
  • Tokyo Institute of Technology
  • University of Calgary – UofC Team
  • Stevens – Stevens Software Defined Radio Group
  • Virginia Tech
  • Worchester Polytechnic Institute

The inaugural European Reconfigurable Radio Technologies Workshop and Exposition was held in conjunction with the General Meeting, on April 22-24. The event, sponsored by Indra Sistemas, brought together wireless telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) with their customers and suppliers to explore the evolution of reconfigurable radio over the next several years. Keynotes were provided by:

• Fernando Garcia, Indra Sistemas
• Dr. Walter Tuttlebee, Mobile VCE
• John Chapin, Vanu
• Rafael Aguado Muñoz, Indra Sistemas

Complete meeting minutes are available at http://sdrforum.org/uploads/news_529015SDR_Forum_62nd_General_Meeting_Minutes.pdf.

A non-profit international industry association dedicated to promoting the success of next generation radio technology, The SDR Forum has more than 20 working groups currently, comprised of leaders in reconfigurable radio research and industry. A list of current projects can be found here. Most, if not all, the groups will convene at The SDR Forum’s 63^rd General Meeting, June 15-18 in Dearborn, Michigan. This meeting will also feature two workshops: “Spectrum Sharing of TV Band Devices” on June 16 and “Smart Communications in Transportation Systems” on June 18, as well as a plenary presentation given by Rohde & Schwarz on June 17 entitled "Smart-RF" Compensation of Imperfect Analogue RF-Frontend Characteristics by Digital Means in a SDR.”

To learn more about The SDR Forum, its meetings and membership benefits, visit www.sdrforum.org.

About The SDR Forum™

Established in 1996, The SDR Forum™ is a non-profit international industry association with a 100+ strong membership comprised of world class technical, business and government organizations from EMEA, Asia and the Americas who are passionate about creating a revolution in wireless communications based on reconfigurable radio. The SDR Forum is the only organization in the world dedicated to serving the industry's needs through advocacy, opportunity development, commercialization and education. For more information, please visit www.sdrforum.org.