• Thousands of software defined radios have been successfully deployed in defense applications
• Cellular infrastructure systems are increasingly using programmable processing devices to create “common platform” or “multi-mode”  base stations supporting multiple cellular infrastructure standards 
• Cellular handsets are increasingly utilizing System on Chip (SoC) devices that incorporate programmable “DSP Cores” to support the baseband signal/modem processing
• Satellite “modems” in the commercial and defense markets make pervasive use of programmable processing devices for intermediate frequency and baseband signal processing

While these types of systems are often not marketed as “SDR’s”, they utilize SDR technologies to solve market specific problems; cost of development, cost of production, cost of upgrades and maintenance, time to market in supporting new and evolving air interface standards, or problems associated with network interoperability. This workshop, hosted by Manuel Uhm of Xilinx and Chair of the SDR Forum Markets Committee will explore the use of SDR and SDR technologies in commercial, civil and defense markets, future trends, and key challenges that need to be addressed in further advancing SDR technologies into the mainstream.

Workshop Program:

08:30-09:30 SDR'09 Conference Keynote (open to Analysts Workshop Participants)
presented by Daniel J. Weitzner, Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy Analysis and Development, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

09:40-11:50 Morning Workshop Session

“Introduction and Welcome”
Presented by Manuel Uhm, Director of Wireless Communications, Xilinx

“What is the True Value Proposition of SDR in Base Stations?”
Presented by Aditya Kaul of ABI Research
The most common and largely misunderstood value proposition has been software upgradeability, which means that through a software upgrade, one can update a piece of hardware to reflect changes in baseband technology. In most software upgradeable cases, as the technology changes in the baseband, the radio head portion of the base station would need to be replaced to reflect new frequencies, channel bandwidths, etc.

In recent years this has been changing as vendors have introduced solutions that have reconfigurable radio heads, which can be re-utilized to support different technologies and even simultaneously support technologies – all through software control.  This has given rise to the Single/Multi RAN base station: one base station that covers all technologies.

About the Speaker: Aditya Kaul, Senior Analyst Mobile Networks, ABI Research
Leveraging his engineering training and a strong background in wireless hardware and software, Aditya Kaul concentrates his research activities at ABI Research on the changing nature of mobile network infrastructure including in-building wireless systems like femtocells, picocells, distributed antenna systems, repeaters; software-defined radio, and the general wireless infrastructure technology marketplace. He also heads the firm’s Clean Telecoms Research Service.

Prior to joining ABI Research, Aditya served as Senior Analyst, Emerging Wireless Technologies at Pioneer Consulting in the UK, where he was responsible for establishing and setting up a brand new wireless research and consulting practice. He has also provided independent consulting and research services to telecom research firms like Unstrung Insider (Light Reading), Juniper Research, and Pioneer Consulting. Prior to this period, he led a team of analysts conducting business research in the area of telecommunications and IT at Evalueserve, in India.

He has also held internships at Qualcomm in the US and Siemens in India.

Aditya has been a prolific speaker, moderator and panelist at industry conferences and events and has appeared frequently in print and broadcast media including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Unstrung, ZDNet, Wireless Week, EE Times, CommsDesign among others.

Aditya has two Masters degrees in Engineering from the US, the first in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University, and the second in Industrial Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. While at Penn State, Aditya received the CMEI Fellowship, awarded by the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering.

He lives and works from Bath in the United Kingdom.

The Future of Next-generation Wireless Technologies
Presented by Michael W. Thelander, CEO, Signals Research Group, LLC
This session looks at the real-world performance capabilities of next-generation wireless technologies, including HSPA+ and OFDMA-based air interfaces.  Results from very detailed device/chipset and commercial network performance benchmark tests will be used to determine the likely adoption and usage models for these technologies, as well as the potential role for SDR-based solutions for device chipsets and as part of an infrastructure supplier’s upgrade path.  The session will conclude by looking at the network economics of these technologies in order to quantify the potential cost-savings associated with a software-based migration strategy versus new infrastructure [hardware] rollouts.

About the Speaker: Michael Thelander is the CEO and Founder of Signals Research Group, LLC (SRG), a US-based research consultancy that offers thought-leading field research and consulting services on the wireless telecommunications industry. 

"Processors for Digital Signal Processing: A Changing Landscape"
Presented by Jeff Bier, President, BDTI
For most of the past 25 years, designers of demanding, digital-signal-processing-centric systems have largely relied on ASICs and digital signal processors (DSPs) as their main processing engines.  Lately, however, the landscape of processing engine options has been shifting radically.  As single-core DSPs have reached the point of diminishing returns, established processor vendors and start-ups alike have been increasingly relying on multi-core architectures.  But multi-core architectures bring significant challenges in the realm of software development methodologies and tools.  Meanwhile, massively parallel architectures, in the form of FPGAs and GPUs, are increasingly seeing use as DSP engines, but these technologies bring their own development challenges.  And, as digital signal processing applications become more complex (and incorporate increasing amounts of non-signal-processing functionality) general-purpose CPUs are becoming an attractive option for some applications.  In this presentation, Jeff Bier will present highlights of some of BDTI's recent and ongoing evaluations of tradeoffs and trends in processing engines for signal processing applications.

About the Speaker: Jeff Bier is President and co-founder of BDTI, a trusted resource for insight, analysis, and advice on embedded processing technology.  Jeff oversees BDTI’s independent benchmarking and competitive analysis of chips, tools, and other technology.  Jeff is also a key contributor to BDTI’s consulting services, which focus on product-development engineering, marketing guidance, and strategic advice for companies using and developing embedded processing technologies.

Jeff is a recognized industry expert, frequently presenting seminars on embedded processing applications and technologies.  He is also editor of BDTI’s respected technology analysis reports, including Buyer’s Guide to DSP Processors.  Jeff earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from Princeton University and U.C. Berkeley.

11:50 to 13:50 Lunch and Product Exhibition

13:50-16:00 Afternoon Workshop Session

Broadband Public Safety Communications
Presented by Emil Olbrich of National Institute of Standards and Technology Office of Law Enforcement Standards (NIST OLES)

This session will include:

• Very brief overview of NIST OLES
• Overview of SDR usage in public safety comms and what NIST OLES is doing with SDR
• Market Size and Opportunity
• Current state of applicable technology, regulations and business models for SDR within public safety
• Technical, regulatory and business issues hampering adoption

About the Speaker: Emil Olbrich is currently lead engineer with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Office of Law Enforcement Standards (NIST OLES) in Boulder, CO.  His work spans the entire scope of public safety communications supporting the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) lab activities.   

Mr. Olbrich has over 16 years of experience in the field of wireless telecommunications.  He has worked primarily in R&D at some of the largest telecommunication companies in the world - such as Motorola, Qualcomm and Ericsson.  His scope of work includes:

• Technical lead for the development of 700 MHz LTE Public Safety requirements
• Development & deployment of the first commercial CDMA network
• Early development of HDR (EVDO and DORA)
• Lead project engineer for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
• Total Project Manager for China Ministry of Information Industry 3G testing in China
• Development and deployment of CDMA2000/EVDO and WCDMA/UMTS RAN systems throughout North America, Central America, South America and Asia.

His past experience with cellular based networks is helping to advance public safety communications into the next generation of wireless communications.

US Military SDR Markets -  A Market Perspective
Presented by Bradley J. Curran, Senior Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan

The military have communications problem.  Current systems are dying at an alarming rate due to end of service life and intense operation that speeds normal attrition.  JTRS, the key DoD solution, is not yet available, and program schedules and funding have been delayed.  The increasing capability gap is being filled by replacing and upgrading current radios such as SINCGARS, buying interim radios with SDR and by  emphasizing development of JTRS GMR and HMS networking. Troops under fire are not waiting for formal doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures to be developed to solve a problem that they immediately face. The resulting gap between current equipment and the budgetary and technological timeline for the next generation of SDR presents a unique opportunity for firms competing in this business.

About the speaker: Brad Curran is a senior industry analyst with the Frost & Sullivan Aerospace and Defense Practice.  He focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies, and market behavior in the Command & Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, and Surveillance & Reconnaissance (C4ISR) industry in North America.

Brad joined Frost & Sullivan in 2004 after a twenty-six year Marine Corps career in Electronic Warfare/Signals Intelligence operations that included a tour as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Deputy Director for Technology and Systems at the National Security Agency.  He has authored over thirty-five research studies and consulting projects on C4ISR and other defense technology topics for a wide range of clients.

He is quoted regularly concerning the C4ISR market and defense technology issues in publications such as Dow Jones, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Orange County Business Journal, National Defense, Canadian Security, COTS Journal, and Signal.  Brad has also been a guest speaker at the Military Technologies, Military Embedded Electronics and Computing, and Electronic Warfare Conferences.

SDR Analysts Panel

The analysts will be pleased to field questions from the audience regarding market sizes, opportunities, technology adoption and other issues pertaining to SDR adoption in various market segments.

16:15 - SDR ’09 Keynote (open to Analysts Workshop Participants)
presented by Joe Heaps, Deputy Chief, Information & Sensor Technologies Division Manager, Communications Technology Portfolio, National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs

17:00 -  SDR’09  Conference Panel Session (open to Analysts Workshop Participants)
Setting the Global Regulatory Agenda
ABSTRACT:  This concluding panel will feature members of the SDR Forum’s Regulatory Advisory Committee, which was established to provide advice and guidance to the Forum in support of the work of its Regulatory Committee.  The Advisory Committee is made up of regulatory and public policy officials and experts from around the world who are working on or knowledgeable about issues relevant to reconfigurable radio technologies.  The panelists will provide their unique insights on various activities of domestic and international regulatory bodies of interest to the SDR and cognitive radio community.  They will help identify what early incremental steps must be taken to proactively identify and remove regulatory barriers and misconceptions that may impact the ability to promote deployment of DSA and reconfigurable radio technology.

MODERATOR:  Paul Kolodzy

Panelists:

• Bernd Wolf, Federal Network Agency, Germany
• Alan Scrime, Chief, Spectrum Analysis and Frequency Management Branch, Communications Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC)
• Bill Lane, Chief Engineer, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Byron Barker, Chief, Strategic Planning Division, Office of Spectrum Management, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)