Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are massively growing areas in the defense sector. Existing systems are equipped with multiple radios, each with its own purpose. A software-defined radio (SDR) can combine all the communication systems into one using a reconfigurable hardware device, thus reducing system maintenance and costs while increasing flexibility.
Real-time, high quality, encrypted video transmission in crowded spectrum conditions and environments (non line-of-sight) for low latency base control decisions is one example of challenges that will require new development systems to use advanced technology such as cognitive radios implemented in reprogrammable hardware (FPGAs).
Nutaq's FPGA-based SDR systems like the PicoSDR and the ZeptoSDR are well-equipped to help defense research centers accelerate the development of new waveform standards. Both systems include an FPGA-based SISO/MIMO OFDM PHY layer reference design, allowing for wireless real-time video transmission between two RF nodes with a QAM64 modulation and easy customization.