Thales announces deliveries in software-defined radio networking

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) French defence major Thales Friday announced its first deliveries in software-defined radio (SDR) networking lab solution that enables armed forces to carry out operations in a network-centric battlefield environment, the firm's officials said here Friday.

The SDR networking land enables armed forces, the customers for such products, to develop and adapt their own SDR-standard waveforms and integrate them with SDR platforms, said Patrice Caine, Thales vice-president in charge of radio communications business, at a press conference at the defence exposition here.

The SDR Networking Lab is a complete set of tools and solutions that let users define, develop and adapt new generations of waveforms with high data rate and network-centric capabilities.

These waveforms can subsequently be ported to SDR systems compliant with the software communications architecture (SCA) international standard.

With the shift to network-centric operations, the SDR Networking Lab gives armed forces and defence organisations the ability to develop their own network waveforms to meet their specific operational requirements, with guaranteed joint and combined forces and international inter-operability.

"Thales is proud to announce these first successes with the SDR Networking Lab, which confirm our position as a key partner in the development of SDR technologies and standards," Caine said.

"At a time when almost all operations are conducted by coalition forces, SDR, with its unique capacity for interoperability, is a crucial component in the continuing evolution of the digitised battlespace," he added.

Thales is involved in the European Secure Software Defined Radio (ESSOR) programme and is an active contributing member of the Wireless Innovation Forum.

During recent testing in real conditions, Thales and US electronic major Rockwell Collins FlexNet SDR have achieved a two megabits per second data rate at a range of 35 km.

The data rate is four times greater than previously fielded for the FlexNet radios. This success confirms FlexNet position as the heart of the most advanced digital battlefield solutions.

This high bandwidth broadband connectivity is essential on the modern battlefield, as Command, Control, Communication, Computing, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) applications are presenting ever increasing demand for higher data rates to exchange battlefield intelligence and situation awareness information.