Performance and overhead analysis of the ALOE middleware for SDR

Current Software-Defined Radio applications (waveforms) are tailored to specific hardware. Processor vendors frequently adapt internal OS mechanisms for its specific architecture (e.g. scheduling and synchronization). The Abstraction Layer and Operating Environment (ALOE) is an open source SDR operating environment that isolates platform architecture from the application design. An integrated resource manager is capable of automatically mapping waveform components to a network of heterogeneous processors while meeting the waveform's real-time requirements. This paper analyzes the ALOE performance for x86 and ARM processors. It presents computing histograms of UTRAN transceiver components, the maximum achievable throughput of a simple BPSK modem, interface latencies, and overhead measurements of the ALOE background processes.