BEL To Begin Testing of Homegrown Software Defined Radios in June

Bharat Electronics Ltd is expected to begin testing of its homegrown Software Defined Radios (SDR) within the next 3-4 months, according to Anil Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, BEL told Defenseworld.net in an exclusive interview. First announced during the Aero India Show in 2011, BEL’s SDRs have been designed to operate on Very High Frequency, Ultra High Frequency, High Frequency and L-band, which otherwise need different radios. T the SDR will have 16 variants for the Army, Navy and Air Force. “We are developing our own Software Defined Radio (SDR) for all the 3 Services; the radio will have around 16 variants. We expect the SDR to be available for trials by June 2012. SDRs can communicate with legacy radios existing with the armed forces,” said Kumar. “Since the army uses BEL radios they can use these advanced SDR sets, with the same encryption. BEL has also developed suitable interfaces for the existing HF radio sets, which enable secure communication between these radios”. While the concept of SDR isn’t new, its digital electronic capabilities make theoretical processes possible now. It has many added advantages that include being light-weight, cost-effective, software-driven communication radio that can operate on any frequency band. Unlike a typical radio communication device, the SDR isn’t limited in its capabilities. It can allow multiple transmitters to broadcast in the same area on the same frequency with no interferences using the spread spectrum and ultra wide band techniques. The SDR receivers are built to drop the interferences from other directions, using the antennas that can adaptively lock onto a directional signal. Should BEL be successful with its tests, it will join a handful of international companies including Harris, ITT, Rockwell Collins and Thales that design and manufacture SDRs. These radios are still a developing concept and can be used for communications between various assets on land, sea and air.