Software Defined Radios, Cognitive Radio and the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) in relation to COMMS, radar and ESM

In this paper we describe the role of software defined radio and in particular the software communications architecture (SCA) in relation to communications, radar and electronic support measures (ESM). We discuss the evolving timeline of software defined radio standards and programmes, and look at the various implementation approaches. The paper covers development of an example ESM application highlighting the complexity of the signal processing requirement and noting how this can be captured with components and interconnect elements within a model driven architecture based development tool. The paper considers the impacts of cognitive radio techniques and concludes with consideration of some of the potential benefits of software programmable radio techniques.