Embedded communications engineers are faced with numerous challenges as radio technology drives towards Software-Defined Radio (SDR)-based heterogeneous compute platforms.
Strategies and Insights into SCA-Compliant Waveform Application Development
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Embedded communications engineers are faced with numerous challenges as radio technology drives towards Software-Defined Radio (SDR)-based heterogeneous compute platforms. The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program has attempted to ease development and porting costs by requiring the use of the Software Communication Architecture (SCA) for SDR systems. The SCA is there to help understanding by providing a common framework; however, communication engineers must work in an unfamiliar environment filled with system software concepts such as Object Oriented Programming (OOP), Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), and middleware using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The addition of SCA to SDR development is impacting design methods, work flow, testing, and tooling. Understanding of these impacts, and how to best capitalize on the benefits of SCA, is imperative to the success of any SCA-compliant development. This paper will provide insights into SCA development, work flow, testing, and tooling. This paper will also present an approach to leverage SCA as a means of abstracting the radio management software from the radio functional software components and further parallelize system development.