Russian company Sozvezdiye is developing new software-defined radios TASS 82403177

By SDR News On May 21, 2024

Russian defense contractor Sozvezdiye (a subsidiary of United Instrument Corporation, UIC) will develop and put into full production super-secure software-defined radios (SDRs) before October 1, 2021. The radios will become the basis of new-generation military communications networks.

SDR technology unites radio stations into self-organizing communication systems that cannot be jammed with electronic countermeasures or destroyed physically, according to the Izvestia daily. The cost of development and production of the six-generation SDR radio is estimated at 326.1 million rubles ($5.6 million), according to Sozvezdiye’s business plan. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has given approval for a subsidy of 175 million ($3 million), with the balance to be paid by the Ministry of Defense and extrabudgetary sources. The business plan also says that the implementation of the program will allow three patents to be obtained and 50 high-tech jobs to be created.

By connecting subscribers, SDR radios automatically plot the optimal route from one user to another, even if troops are moving all the time and the enemy is using ECM. Even if one of the radio stations is silenced or deleted, its work will be taken over by neighboring radio stations, and the network subscriber does not feel a change in the quality of communication. The UIC press service informed Izvestia that a prototype of the software-hardware platform for the SDR radio has been developed. Depending on the battle scenario or weather conditions, it allows adjustment of signal speed, power and distance. The software of the platform makes the radio suitable for use as a relay to organize the transfer of digital data up to 30 and more kilometers at a speed of 1Mbps.

Currently, research and development in SDR systems is in vogue among the armed forces of developed countries. For example, back in the early 2000s, the US Army launched the Joint Tactical Radio System program aimed at phasing SDR radios into the inventory. Military radio electronics firms Thales and General Dynamics participated in the program. Its deadline slipped several times, and the program itself was greatly altered. According to a new schedule, the delivery of SDR radios to the US military should begin in 2017 at the latest.