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A Technical Review of SCA Based Software Defined Radios: Vision, Reality and Current Status

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Abstract

The SCA 2.2.2 architecture has achieved widespread adoption in the military communications market. Hundreds of thousands of SCA enabled software defined radios (SDRs) have been deployed to date, and world-wide dozens of programs are working to field more of these types of radios. The reasons for this success are the benefits enabled through adoption of the SCA: proven cost and delivery time advantages, lower logistical overhead through enhanced inter-component interoperability, simplified insertion of new communications capabilities in deployed radios, enhanced coalition interoperability through portability of waveforms and reduced development risk. As a result of this success, new countries and new organizations have begun to explore the use of the SCA, driving a second generation of SDR market adoption. Successful deployment of SCA 2.2.2 based SDRs has identified improvements to be made to advance the technology further. The Wireless Innovation Forum is working in close collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Tactical Networking Center (JTNC) to evolve the SCA. The resulting SCA 4.1 specification represents the future of defense SDR technology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer, FKIE, Wachtberg, 53343, Germany

    Marc Adrat

  2. NordiaSoft, Gatineau, QC, J8Z 1V3, Canada

    Steve Bernier

  3. Rohde & Schwarz, Munich, 81671, Germany

    Boyd Buchin

  4. Harris Corporation, Rochester, NY, 14610, USA

    Ken Dingman

  5. VINMA Systems LLC, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Vince Kovarik

  6. Raytheon, Ft. Wayne, IN, 46804, USA

    Jimmie Marks

  7. Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52498, USA

    Sarah Miller

  8. Tata Power SED, Mumbai, 400072, India

    Raghavan Muralidharan

  9. Thales Communications & Security, 92622, Gennevilliers, France

    Eric Nicollet

  10. The Wireless Innovation Forum, Reston, VA, 20190, USA

    Lee Pucker

  11. Indra, Aranjuez, 28300, Spain

    Alberto Quintana

  12. Vanguard Wireless Consulting, LLC, Scottsville, NY, 14546, USA

    Mark Turner

Authors
  1. Marc Adrat
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  2. Steve Bernier
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  3. Boyd Buchin
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  5. Vince Kovarik
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  7. Sarah Miller
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  9. Eric Nicollet
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  10. Lee Pucker
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  11. Alberto Quintana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lee Pucker.

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Adrat, M., Bernier, S., Buchin, B. et al. A Technical Review of SCA Based Software Defined Radios: Vision, Reality and Current Status. J Sign Process Syst 89, 85–95 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-016-1186-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-016-1186-6

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