Leonardo’s Software Defined Radio communications in the times of Network Enabled Capability

In recent decades, a complex international scenario has gradually developed with the increasing emergence of civil wars or conflicts between unconventional armies in territories where the state, as legally envisaged, no longer exists. Such a situation could potentially expand the fighting into neighboring pacified areas, turning them into international terrorist bases.

In this setting, information is undoubtedly the dividing line between the success or failure of military action. The ability to assert superiority over one’s opponent in the research, development, dissemination, and use of information thus becomes fundamental, as it provides decision makers with a vast amount of cross-analyzed and coordinated information, providing them with a permanent advantage. From this point of view, the arrival of Information Technology is fundamental in forming the basis of Ability to work with a network (NEC), which consists of enabling the ability to combine various elements – instructional, procedural, technical, organizational and human – belonging to different organizations into a single network so that they can interact to achieve and sustain a significant strategic superiority.

To meet the new network-centric requirements of the armed forces, Leonardo Department of Land and Naval Defense Electronics has developed a range of technologies and cutting-edge products including SWave SDR rangebased on Software defined radio (SDR) technology, a universal broadband communication tool whose functions and aspects can be modified by software. Software Defined Radio brings a true revolution in the field of military radio communications.

A single SDR can actually replace a variety of traditional radios; an innovation whose impact is comparable to the technological leap made between the first computers and today’s efficient and practical computers. SDR is specifically developed from the idea of ​​a single radio communication platform with its basic parameters fully reconfigurable by software based on the selected communication mode. SDR supports multiple radio communications simultaneously through unique applications. Another feature of SDR is its “portability“; different forms of radio signals can be easily transferred from one “radio platform” to another, thanks to the shared architecture. In addition, SDRs have a longer life compared to traditional equipment, since they can be easily updated with new waveforms .