OSSIE rapid prototyping tools help easily reconfigure software defined radios

The Software Communications Architecture
One of the indisputable advantages of software defined radio is re-configurability. When developing a software defined radio, its ability to be updated and modified in the future must be considered. These updates may be made by different groups of people over long periods of time, which highlights the need for a set of standards to govern the format in which code for software defined radios is written. Various standards have been developed, and one of the most predominant standards to date is the Software Communications Architecture (SCA), originally developed by the United States Department of Defense.

OSSIE
An open-source implementation of the SCA has been developed by Dr. Max Robert and a team of students from Dr. Jeff Reed's Software Radio class and research group at Virginia Tech. The Open Source SCA Implementation Embedded (OSSIE) effort provides an environment, available for free to the public, for development and implementation of SCA called waveforms. Since its original conception, OSSIE has been supported and further developed by various Virginia Tech students.

As an open-source effort, OSSIE is still in its development phase; fortunately, many efforts are being made by the OSSIE group at Virginia Tech to make OSSIE converge towards SCA compliance and to make OSSIE easier to use. One of the most notable achievements contributing towards ease of use is the development of the OSSIE Rapid Prototyping Tools, specifically the OSSIE Waveform Developer (OWD).

Rapid prototyping

As stated by DePriest

"A rapid prototyping environment is needed to allow radio engineers to concentrate on component and waveform implementation instead of spending an inordinate amount of time ensuring that each piece of the radio conforms to the required underlying code structure. A development environment for waveforms would allow designs and implementations to proceed in a timely manner and enhance the quality of the final products.

There are several other factors that motivate the need for a development environment for software de�ned radios. With the ability to develop component-based software radios comes the need to modify those designs at a later time. A development environment not only standardizes and streamlines the initial design phase, but provides the possibility to modify designs for future upgrades and applications. Another factor that illuminates the need for an SDR development environment is the problem of component reuse. Without a standardized way to develop components and waveforms, it is essentially impossible to expect multiple developers to design components that comply with a certain structure. De�ning a common component architecture that adheres to a given API is necessary for the interoperability of components, and a waveform and component development environment provides the consistency and efficiency needed to achieve this goal. Finally, an efficient and simple development environment for the rapid prototyping of waveforms not only saves manufacturers money and time, but it also promotes a wider acceptance in the technological community." (DePriest 10)