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Flourishing Radio Technology Lab Has Wide Impact August 2008
It's a familiar story at MITRE. A group of knowledgeable engineers planted the seeds of their expertise for one project—and it ended up blooming in many more directions. This story begins in MITRE's Electronic System Development group, a corporate resource for advanced hardware and software prototypes that demonstrates system concepts and reduces risk on programs. "Our work is laboratory based," explains Kevin Skey, principal integrated electronics engineer, who heads the Programmable Radio Technology (PRT) lab in Bedford, Mass. "We're primarily focused on technologies to advance the concept of software-defined radio, which is a dynamic radio that's flexible and programmable to accommodate various physical formats and protocols." The lab took root in 2004, when it received funding from the U.S. Air Force's Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) program to examine issues such as Software Communications Architecture (SCA), a standard software framework under which the latest U.S. military communications equipment must operate. "They wanted to know what the impact would be if radios in every plane and ground terminal were defined by SCA," Skey recalls. "The government's vision is for all future radios and communications terminals to share a common software operating environment independent of the hardware, so software waveforms and applications could be efficiently reused." The current challenge? "The hardware configurations found throughout the armed services are very different," says Skey. Seeing and Meeting a Need
In fact, as the mandate for SCA compliance for military radios and modems began to affect MITRE's programs, we recognized the need early on to possess a hands-on capability to confront these complex technical issues and help sponsors lessen program risk. "Engineers who lead our satellite communications work really understood the challenges, and they helped drive the creation of a lab to tackle these tough problems," points out Tom Hopkinson, associate technical director. "They were adept at communicating with customers to gain support, making sure the work being done in the lab would benefit their own customers." Marc Richard, a project director who works on satellite communications programs, agrees. "Our sponsors quickly saw that the products generated in the lab were critical to the success of several of their most important programs," he says. "In fact, at least one of our programs built its acquisition strategy around the intellectual property generated by the PRT team." So the fledging MITRE lab dug in to better understand SCA, and where, if at all, an SCA requirement might fit. "Ultimately, we found that SCA was good for defining a common framework to develop and deploy applications for a system using general purpose processors," Skey says. "However, in our research, we discovered some deficiencies that led us to devise new requirements to bridge across other types of hardware." Richard confirms, "Without the PRT lab's innovations developing an SCA-compliant test waveform for one of our leading-edge satellite communications terminals, we never would have been able to acquire, test, and verify the technologies behind the terminals." And this is where the branching out really begins. Budding Solutions For several years, a key challenge for MITRE has been helping the Department of Defense's (DoD) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program realize its vision. The JTRS program is the first of its kind, attempting to produce a family of interoperable, digital, modular, software-defined radios—whether they're found in aircraft, vehicles, or handheld—on a network that enables secure wireless communications and networking services for fixed and mobile forces.
A major tenet of the JTRS program is to reduce life cycle cost and improve interoperability across the DoD through reuse of waveform applications. Toward this goal, the program is managing the radio hardware development separately from waveform development. The rationale is that this is the best path for the waveform application to maintain independence from the radio for maximizing reuse and interoperability across programs. "This JTRS vision created many interesting challenges, but it was the risks associated with the decoupling of the waveform and radio developments that attracted us," Skey says. It was MITRE's proficiency in identifying appropriate technology that led to a pairing with the satellite communications High Data Rate-Radio Frequency (HDR-RF) program, which devises modems compliant with government standards. "Our expertise in several technology areas, including software-defined radios, reusable waveform development, modem and terminal architectures, and SCA, was crucial," confirms Jose Torres, MITRE's project lead for HDR-RF Test Waveform Development. He oversees a team of PRT Lab engineers engaged in developing a test waveform and the extensive intellectual property (IP) associated with it. Staff members in the PRT Lab became an integral part of the MITRE HDR-RF source selection team and have been responsible for influencing many of the program's requirements. "Taken in conjunction with early development of the delivered intellectual property, our lab has provided critical technical support during requirements definition, development of the request for proposal package, and source selection," Torres notes. In fact, providing direct technical support to HDR-RF contractors is a logical part of delivering the test waveform intellectual property. "We've been doing this work for more than two years, and we recently delivered all of the IP as government furnished information and government furnished products to the two HDR-RF contractors. We're now providing training and key technical support during the contractor's use of the IP," Torres explains. Using Applied Research to Bolster Results
Today's PRT Lab, which benefits from the expertise of about 20 MITRE engineers, also contains a core research arm. One research effort, on behalf of the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station (AMF) JTRS program, employs a technology originally intended for cellular chip manufacturers. Using leading-edge simulation and modeling techniques, the lab is developing the capability to build radios using virtual hardware before the actual hardware becomes available. "The software porting can be performed on the virtual radio to determine risk levels for AMF well before the hardware is actually built," Skey says. "This approach presents an unprecedented opportunity for JTRS and any other military program looking to reduce risk in complex system software developments." The lab also taps into MITRE's vast well of knowledge by pulling in ideas from our corporate research and development program, which seeks both to create new technologies and to apply existing tools and technologies in innovative ways to deliver value for customers. "Much of our waveform porting has its roots there, including research in microelectronics and the tactical radio IP areas," Skey notes. The SDR technology has also fed back into MITRE's "Emerging Technology for VLSI Architectures" research initiative, where engineers are designing an SDR-on-a-chip device. Hopkinson agrees that MITRE's investments have helped bolster the work of the PRT Lab. "Collaborative efforts across multiple organizations have helped us to get where we are today," he says. "Many of the design concepts that enable portability and reuse, for instance, are directly traceable to our microelectronics investments. This work makes heavy use of an extensive laboratory infrastructure and a variety of highly specialized design tools." Growing West The story doesn't end in a lab in Massachusetts, however. The DoD's Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) for JTRS is in San Diego, and MITRE supports the JPEO from our San Diego site. The Bedford-based PRT lab is playing a big role in helping build a radio lab at MITRE's San Diego location, so engineers based out there can better directly support their customers. "MITRE's technical director of Joint Network Radios is well aligned with our JTRS customer there, ensuring the lab and staff take advantage of the corporation's full resources on their programs," Hopkinson emphasizes. "It's proven to be a successful collaborative experience." Last year in San Diego, MITRE engineers and executives showcased the virtual radio technology that the lab is developing. "JTRS officers were very impressed with our demonstration and realized how this technology could ease risk in their programs," Skey says. The lab's engineers also interact regularly with key players on the MILSATCOM and JTRS programs. "We're plugged in as domain experts, so we continue to be called in for assessments for SDR-related technology issues," he adds. Based on the DoD's interest in a second radio lab in San Diego, it's apparent that the investments MITRE has made in developing and maintaining core technical capability in communications, electronics, and hardware-software design are producing valuable results for a wide swath of the corporation's customers. "Collaboration and cutting-edge work have truly come to fruition in the PRT lab," Hopkinson concludes. —by Cheryl Scaparrotta Related Information Articles and News
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