Wireless Innovation Forum Makes Recommendation on the Evolution of the SCA

Approach Opens Standards to the Greatest Extent Possible, Encourages International Collaboration, Reduces Costs

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Wireless Innovation Forum (SDR Forum version 2.0), a non-profit organization dedicated to driving the future of radio communications and systems worldwide, announced today support for a “three category” approach in the evolution of the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) and related standards. The Forum’s recommendation is modeled on a proposal made by the European Defense Agency’s (EDA) during SDR’09, the Forum’s annual technical conference and product exposition held Dec 1-4, 2009. The recommendation allows for future developments of the SCA base specification, application programming interfaces (APIs) and other necessary extensions to occur in a coordinated manner across the international community through a combination of the following three categories of standards:

“In adopting this position, members of the Forum’s Coordinating Committee on International SCA Standards feel that radio standards should be made open to the greatest extent possible”

1. Areas of open standards with unlimited public access, managed in the best interest of all stakeholders (U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), EDA, radio providers, waveform applications developers and others). This area would be managed by an independent international organization.
2. Areas of limited distribution standards for sensitive multi-national needs, such as for coalition interoperability. This area could be managed by a relevant multi-national body such as NATO or EDA.
3. Areas of highly restricted access for specific national and sovereign interests which are managed by national bodies.

“In adopting this position, members of the Forum’s Coordinating Committee on International SCA Standards feel that radio standards should be made open to the greatest extent possible,” said Lee Pucker, CEO of the Wireless Innovation Forum. Mark Turner, Engineering Director of Harris Corporation and Wireless Innovation Forum member representative adds, “Making these standards open will encourage broader support through international collaboration and consensus, minimize repetition of effort across regional programs and maximize the opportunity to grow an eco-system of vendors supporting the defined open standards, all of which will reduce cost to governments worldwide in acquiring radio technologies.”

In adopting this recommendation, the Forum’s members continue their 12-year-long support of programs such as JTRS and ESSOR through a newly formed “Coordinating Committee on International SCA Standards.” This Committee will define an industry driven SCA roadmap for the international community, profile the SCA specification and related application programming interfaces (APIs) to define internationally accepted variants that are hosted by the Forum, and participate in development in the open standard area through four active work groups:

1. SCA Interpretation Guide Work Group, devoted to defining a common understanding of the various articles of the specification to make it a true standard upon which industry can develop interoperable hardware and software.
2. SCA Application Programming Interfaces Work Group, devoted to defining a set of common APIs to be used by the radio and waveform developers.
3. SCA Test and Certification Work Group, devoted to the development of a set of guidelines for the international community to follow.
4. SCA Evolution Work Group, devoted to the evolution of the SCA standards to address gaps or enable additional functionalities.

The complete recommendation as balloted and approved by the Forum’s members can be found at http://groups.sdrforum.org/download.php?sid=1475. For more information on becoming involved in the Coordinating Committee on International SCA Standards, please contact Lee Pucker at [e-mail] or visit our web site: www.wirelessinnovation.org.

About The Wireless Innovation Forum

Established in 1996, The Wireless Innovation Forum (SDR Forum Version 2.0) is a non-profit mutual benefit corporation dedicated to driving technology innovation in commercial, civil, and defense communications worldwide. Members bring a broad base of experience in Software Defined Radio (SDR), Cognitive Radio (CR) and Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technologies in diverse markets and at all levels of the wireless value chain to address emerging wireless communications requirements. To learn more about The Wireless Innovation Forum, its meetings and membership benefits, visit www.WirelessInnovation.org.