This award is aimed at the development and community release of a Wideband Software Extensible Radio (WiSER) platform along with a reference implementation for small outdoor deployment of a multi-node dynamic spectrum network. Dynamic spectrum technologies are strategically important to the wireless community because of the urgent need to alleviate spectrum congestion resulting from ongoing exponential growth in mobile data usage. While a great deal of theoretical work has already been done on dynamic spectrum techniques, definitive experimental evaluations of potential gains have yet to be conducted. The lack of experimental research is mainly due to the fact that available open platforms suitable for academic experimentation with software defined radio (SDR) are limited to first-generation technologies that operate at low bandwidth and can only handle a limited amount of MAC/PHY customization due to inherent processing constraints. The proposed WiSER platform is a second generation wideband open-source SDR platform that will enable new experimental research in the fields of dynamic spectrum and cognitive radio networking. The WiSER radio?s target release is timed to coincide with significant new national research and policy initiatives in dynamic spectrum involving the NSF, FCC, PCAST, NIST, DARPA and other agencies. This platform enables a richer range of experimental dynamic spectrum research than is currently possible because of its key technical features: operation across 400MHz-4000MHz in 125MHz increments, hardware acceleration for real-world PHY waveforms at speeds of 100 Mbps and higher, hardware virtualization capable of supporting multiple radios on the same platform, and an open-source software toolkit.
This project will develop a community resource supported by currently available radios along with an open-source software framework and reference system implementation. Such a resource will allow for research into a very scarce and important public resource ? radio spectrum. By improving reliable access to spectrum, our society benefits in terms of enhancing mobile broadband, improving public safety communications, and ensuring that radar and other spectrum uses are not degraded as the spectrum becomes more densely used. The WiSER team will work closely with experimental research groups nationally to help develop relevant and timely experimental deployments of dynamic spectrum technology. Dynamic spectrum access technology has the potential for order-of-magnitude improvement in spectrum efficiency necessary to cope with the recent explosion of mobile data traffic. Cognitive radio systems will also provide improved connectivity to end users, and enable new applications such as emergency response systems and automotive networks. This project will directly inform these important societal needs by enabling the research community to build state-of-the-art experimental systems for conclusive evaluation of these emerging technologies. Lastly, this platform will offer a powerful educational tool for students wanting to better understand modern digital and software-based radio communications.
