SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project from Vanu, Inc. provides a plan for the research and development of a programmable, scalable wireless information infrastructure based on software radio technology. The system will support all of the signal processing for many digital wireless communications systems entirely in application level software on a cluster of commercial off-the-shelf PCs. This approach enables significant flexibility, through software upgrades, that can overcome many of the limitations of current wireless communications systems. For example, the cellular telephony infrastructure utilizes hardware-based signal processing in base stations. Adding new services or migrating to new standards requires time consuming and costly hardware upgrades. With a software radio infrastructure, these changes can be executed by simply downloading software. This capability will accelerate the pace of innovation in the wireless marketplace, reduce the risk associated with deployment of new services and reduce the barrier to entry for firms with innovative services, such as wireless broadband internet access and cable television services. The research objectives are as follows: design of a robust, scalable, distributed software radio infrastructure for real-time signal processing; design of a load balancing algorithm; evaluation of the computational requirements for advanced digital communications systems; and the determination of feasibility of this approach in a commercial context. Vanu, Inc.'s proffered technology with be the basis for a commercial software radio product that will permit the deployment of any wireless stand or service as a software upgrade. The firm also intends to benefit the academic community by creating a platform to support university research in wireless communication and networking.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has two primary objectives: to continue the research and development of clustered software radio technology begun in the Phase I project, and to use that technology to extend current waveform implementations to a fully functional base station. A high impact application of clustered software radio is for cellular telephone base stations, changing them from fixed hardware devices into flexible software devices that can support multiple commercial standards and also public safety needs. This Phase II project will develop a clustered software radio base station that interoperates with commercial GSM mobile units and switching centers. The goal is a base station sufficiently functional to be deployed in a field trial, which is the necessary next step in commercializing the technology. The project will include innovative technology development in timing control, wideband synthesis, and intra-cluster data transport. In the telecommunications industry, many foresee that base stations for third-generation wireless systems will be software radios or software-defined radios. The development of clustered software radio technology by Vanu, Inc. for this market will improve interoperability, improve service to underserved rural areas, enable more efficient use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum, provide substantial public safety benefits, and increase the pace of technological innovation in the wireless communication marketplace. Moreover, the firm's computing architecture has broad application to signal processing problems outside the wireless industry.