SCA compliant data radios for unattended ground sensor systems

Unattended ground sensor systems and networked weapons systems are a major component of modern tactical military strategies. One thrust calls for increasing capability and network capacity combined with ECCM features, while lowering production prices and decreasing size and energy consumption. A second thrust calls for radio implementations that comply with the Software Communications Architecture (SCA). SCA-compliance can provide several benefits; among them are software re-use, common hardware and software platforms to reduce production cost, and upgradeability in the field. At the same time, some users and developers have raised concerns about the cost of SCA-compliance in terms of size, cost and power. This paper describes the implications of SCA-compliance and the implementation of the SCA Operating Environment for sensor data radios. In particular, we show that limited band implementations of some waveforms can be accomplished in an SCA-compliant manner with relatively small incremental increases in production cost, size and power. At the same time, a relatively significant investment is required to reach a critical mass where the appropriate "SCA-lite" architecture has been demonstrated in multiple applications.