[Premium-Rx] ONR Announces an "All Digital" Receiver

[Steve Stutman]

Sounds interesting, but one is suspicious of a contract known as "Cluster1".

73 es HNY to all,
Steve



Ed Tanton wrote:

> An article I ran across just now... originally in Science Daily 
> <http://www.sciencedaily.com/>. Now THIS is/will be a "Premium 
> Receiver"!!! Of course, WE have been using partially-digital 
> DSP-filtered receivers for several years now... and we have 
> analog/digital receivers that will cover some of the range of this 
> rcvr (2MHz - 2 GHz)... but this one sure sounds interesting.
> ------------------------------------------
> Everyone has heard the horror stories—from rescue units frantically 
> trying to communicate during the terrifying first hours after the Twin 
> Towers were struck, to communications crises during the most recent 
> war. The cause? Emergency radios that could not find a clear channel 
> amidst the noise of all the other signals, and systems that are not 
> compatible.
>
> The Office of Naval Research has moved the Navy—and all the services—a 
> big step closer to needing only one radio to talk to the many already 
> in service with the development of an all-digital radio receiver. The 
> inherent accuracy and very high processing speed enable these 
> receivers to handle multiple simultaneous signals spread over 
> considerably wider communications bandwidths.
>
> HYPRES Inc., a small New York State company, is building the new 
> digital receivers. Deborah Van Vechten, program officer in ONR’s 
> Electronics division, says that this company will deliver a 
> demonstration receiver that simultaneously “digitizes” all the signals 
> in the most critical over-the-horizon military communications bands 
> (HF and VHF) and uses a technique called software-controlled digital 
> filtering to select the signals to output.
>
> Such software control is the fundamental innovation required to 
> realize the Department of Defense’s vision for the joint tactical 
> radio system (JTRS) program, now underway, which seeks to develop a 
> generic radio for all the services. This program addresses the lack of 
> interoperability among the “stovepipe-type” tactical radios, in use 
> aboard ships, aircraft, and carried by ground units. Each handle only 
> a single proprietary waveform. Such radios require expensive hardware 
> changes to communicate with other radios. Software control allows the 
> user to select the waveform he wishes to receive and transmit in real 
> time.
>
> During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marines were overwhelmed with the high 
> number of varied communications equipment they were expected to use, a 
> situation that was exacerbated in some vehicles where every “shelf” 
> was taken up by a radio and seat spaces and floor space was taken up 
> with open computers for communications devices. Marines recounted 
> numerous instances where units would call via one radio to verify that 
> a message was received, while the receiving unit had just put that 
> radio aside to monitor another since a previous unit had called asking 
> about the receipt of a digital photo. In Field Reports during the war, 
> consolidation of communications assets / capabilities was cited as a 
> priority. Software-controlled radios can be customized for multiple 
> missions, integrated with older fielded systems, and be upgraded by 
> the easy and cheap insertion of software modules instead of new hardware.
>
> The services plan to purchase thousands of new JTRS tactical radios 
> per year. The new units should drastically simplify joint operations 
> and logistics support. Only minimal changes will be required for one 
> radio to cover the entire JTRS range (2 Megahertz to 2 Gigahertz), or 
> even the newly announced 2 Megahertz to 55 Gigahertz range.
>
> The new JTRS radios also will replace older analog communications 
> components with digital technology, a change that will reduce the 
> complexity and cost of the radios. HYPRES already is teamed with 
> Boeing, winner of the JTRS “Cluster 1” contract for the Army. The 
> company now is hoping to get selected for Cluster 3, the maritime 
> JTRS, which is managed by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.
>
> Van Vechten says that the HYPRES receiver will be able to listen to 
> signals of varying data rates that have been “layered” on top of each 
> other, improving data transmission rates. She adds that the HYPRES 
> technology also provides a simultaneous “stare and scan” capability 
> that may meet the some of needs of one of ONR’s flagship efforts, the 
> advanced multi-function radio frequency system concept, now called 
> AMRF-C. The AMRF-C initiative, set for a major demonstration next 
> year, aims at developing a highly reconfigurable set of antenna 
> apertures to handle all shipboard radio communications, radar, and 
> electronic warfare systems.
>
> 73 Ed Tanton N4XY <n4xy at earthlink.net>
>
> Ed Tanton N4XY
> 189 Pioneer Trail
> Marietta, GA 30068-3466
>
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