Fault Tolerant Software-Defined Radio on Manycore

Mobile communications systems require programmable embedded platforms that can handle computationally demanding signal processing codes without the burden of high power consumption. As hardware performance improves, technology trends have shifted functionality from the gate level up to software, as demonstrated by the emergence of software defined radio. Traditionally, these platforms rely on FPGAs and DSPs, which are costly to program. Application demands for radiation mitigation and fault tolerance exacerbate programmability issues. Maxentric has been developing manycore-based software defined radio (SDR) technologies in an effort to innovate in this market. In this proposal, we describe a radiation-hardened software defined radio system called Resilient. In contrast to current software defined radio systems, Resilient employs a multi-core processor, Maestro. Using Maestro for SDR will enable sophisticated software-based fault tolerance approaches. Moreover, Maestro is based on a general purpose processing architecture that is significantly cheaper and easier to program, debug, and verify than FPGAs.

The applicability of Resilient is not limited to NASA markets. The military and first responders, for example, stand to benefit from ultra-reliable radio systems that can adapt to changing network demands. Moreover, inter-agency communication is eased with inexpensive software defined radio (SDR) that can support multiple waveforms and protocols. Target markets include the military's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and public safety radios for first responders. The civilian market also offers several target applications for SDR including smart phones, automobile navigation and communication systems, and femtocells.

Resilient is Maxentric's fault tolerant manycore-based software defined radio. Because of the elimination of FPGAs and DSPs from the signal processing chain, Resilient will conserve cost and SWaP. Moreover, its fault tolerance is attractive to NASA for its space-bound applications. Examples include CoNNeCT (Communication Navigation and Networking Reconfigurable Testbed), a shared government and commercial project investigating SDR technology for use during space exploration missions

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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