Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a conception of implementing radio functions in computer software, instead of having electronics performing the functions. This study aims to compare two different ways of implementing these functions, or waveforms.
The Software Communications Architecture (SCA) is an open standard developed by the United States Department of Defense. It uses a CORBA interface environment to make waveform applications interoperable and platform independent. This method of developing SDR is compared to an open-source initiative going by the name GNU Radio.
Two waveform applications are developed, one transmitter using SCA, and one receiver using GNU Radio. The analog radio interface is simulated using the sound cards of two regular PCs. The development is done using the C++ and Python programming languages.
This study examines pros and cons of the two SDR methods, as well as performing studies of Software Defined Radio in general.
Source: Linköping University
Author: Sundquist, Thomas