High data rate VHF/UHF file transfer by a software defined multi-band radio

Germany and France have set up a joint program called Multiband Multirole Radio (MMR) to investigate a next generation tactical radio communication system focusing amongst others on being programmable and providing extended capacity. As one part of this program EADS RACOMS undertook the task to design a non-hopping VHF/UHF waveform for high data rate file transfer (HDRFT) over TCP/IP operating between 30 and 600 MHz. Target data rates are 32 and 64 kbit/s to be achieved in 25 kHz typical VHF bandwidth. Message structure needs to be flexible to adapt to actual packet size, limited by the maximum transfer unit (MTU) which defines the maximum allowed TCP/IP packet size. The overall frequency band of the MMR is defined from 2 to 600 MHz, thus requiring a multi-band front-end. Due to software defined applications different transmission bandwidths have to be handled. To keep HW constraints low, the analogue-digital border should be assigned to the highest possible IF. Analogue to digital converters (ADC) are key elements in such hardware architecture. The paper presents the HDRFT waveform approach including an extraordinary 3-PSK modulation scheme and simulation results depicting the performance potential. The content of the MMR program is briefly illustrated. The programmable multiband HW architecture is introduced.