Development System Platform for Academic and Industrial Research

The white spaces cognitive radio development platform (WSCR-1002) provides system developers with an efficient, quick means to develop and evaluate protocol, modulation, waveform, and network concepts.

System Description

The development system consists of a half duplex time division UHF-to-S band (2.4 – 2.5 GHz) up/down converter. The UHF-to-S band receive path consists of a 3 dB LNA, and low noise UHF-to-2.4 GHz converter followed by a 2.4 GHz band pass filter. The 2.4 GHz to UHF converter chain includes a power-efficient 2.4 GHz down converter followed by 28 dB of power gain to convert the 2.4 GHz OFDM signal from the processor unit to a power level between 0 dBm to 27 dBm. The translator is controlled via a standard serial (RS-232) link and a HyperTerminal-type interface.

The WSCR-100 provides both standard command line or embedded control along with a web-based user interface UHF operating center frequency.

Potential Applications

• Point-to-point, multipoint, and mesh protocol development
• Indoor and outdoor propagation measurements
• Network architecture concept validation
• System concept development and validation
• Modulation waveform development

System Components

• Two 6 dB directional log periodic antennas (60° beamwidth)
• UHF up/down 2.4-2.5 GHz translator
• 600 MHz x86 multi Ethernet processor (with four Ethernet, 2 USB, and 2 serial interfaces)
• S-band drivers for 5/10/20/40 MHz waveform bandwidth
• Embedded Linux tools and wireless measurement applications

Major System Capabilities

• UHF range 450-750 MHz: FCC White Spaces (512-698 MHz)
• S band input 2.4 GHz: -1O dBm to +10 dBM
• Embedded Debian Linux with support firmware
• Support for common or separate UHF antennas
• S band power measurement port
• Rx Sensitivity: -96 dBm
• S Band to UHF (2.4 GHz to UHF power gain): 28 dB
• Max integrative P1dB (one dB compression point) power output: 33 dBm @ 22 mHz bandwidth

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