The European a4ESSOR consortium has successfully performed interoperability tests using the new ESSOR High Data Rate waveform (ESSOR HDRWF). These tests are part of the ESSOR (European Secure Software Defined Radio) project launched at the end of 2017 by a4ESSOR and OCCAR (Organization Conjointe de Coopération en matière d’Armement) on behalf of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland.
A step forward for communication between European armed forces. A major milestone marks a major new achievement for the ESSOR project, with the new a4ESSOR technology proven to facilitate safe and effective joint operations between European land forces
Testing took place in Poland with Software Defined Radios (SDRs) from a4ESSOR’s industrial partners (Bittium, Indra, Leonardo, Radmor and Thales) equipped with ESSOR HDRWF, all connected to an automated test environment. This provided an opportunity to verify that ESSOR HDRWF could handle a range of operational use scenarios, demonstrating full interoperability. The same environment was previously used to conduct testing and pre-validation activities for participating nations’ SDR platforms.
The tests demonstrated the excellent performance of ESSOR HDRWF, including its networking (MANET – Mobile Adhoc Network), data transmission (IP), security, push-to-talk, silent radio mode and coexistence (spectrum sharing) functions.
The successful completion of the HDRWF interoperability tests highlights the work done over the past four years. Four different SDRs from four different vendors from four different nations proved to be interoperable thanks to the ESSOR HDRWF and architecture. We are providing European nations with an excellent product that will enable ground armed forces to operate jointly and in an increasingly integrated manner. This result underlines the importance of the European industrial cooperation realized through a4ESSOR. It is hoped that NATO will adopt the ESSOR HDRWF as an interoperability standard enabling more integrated ground communications between all Alliance memberssaid Lino Lagana, president and general manager of a4ESSOR.
The next milestone of the ESSOR project will be the testing of the ESSOR HDRWF on radio by Germany’s Rohde & Schwarz. Germany and Rohde & Schwarz joined the program in late 2020.
The aim of the ESSOR programme, currently sponsored by the governments of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, is to develop a pan-European Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology to improve the ability of armed forces to cooperate in joint operations , as well as for the development of new ESSOR waveforms (E3DWF, ENBWF, ESATWF), within the ESSOR ENC (ESSOR New capabilities) project.
The ESSOR program will continue with additional activities, including porting the ESSOR HDRWF to the Rohde & Schwarz SDR and a new test session to verify interoperability. In addition to the European High Data Rate (HDR) waveform, the program created and validated a European SDR architecture that has already been qualified on six different European platforms. The benefits of waveform interoperability are regularly demonstrated through network testing involving various national ESSOR platforms.
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