SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (SDR) FOR INDIAN ARMY

• Be N By IAS, Delhi
• 18, Feb 2021

For : GS-3: Science & Technology

CONTEXT:

Indian Army is in the process to revamp its communication systems by procuring Very/Ultra High Frequency (V/UHF)Manpack SDRs under Make-II category.

BACKGROUND:

• Communication is vital and critical to all military operations.
•  The Combat Net Radio (CNR) is the mainstay of communications for the Indian Army in the battlefield.

SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (SDR) FOR INDIAN ARMY:

• Present radios in the army are to be replaced soon by indigenously developed Software Defined Radio (SDR) to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Army.
• Advantage of SDR:
  • Improved transfer rates for data, voice and video information.
  • Enhanced data transmission capability,
  • Enhanced voice clarity and data transmission accuracy in spectrally noisy environments,
  • Support multiple waveforms,
  • Greater system security and
  • Better communication survivability in clear and secure mode
• Need:
  • The contemporary CNR equipment in the Indian Army supports voice communication only and has limited or no data transmission capability.
  • To arm the soldiers with advantages offered by technology and equip him to fight a war in the Net–Centric battle space
• Significance:
  • Development of V/UHF Manpack SDR under Make-II will be a game changer for Indian Army.
  • It is in sync with the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” policy of the Government which will lead to “Self Reliance” in advanced communication systems.
• Procurement of Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology is the ‘mother’ of all solutions for the desired Tactical Communication needs of the Armed Forces.

COMBAT NET RADIO (CNR):

In telecommunication, a combat-net radio (CNR) is a radio operating in a network that

• (a) provides a half-duplex circuit and
• (b) uses either a single radio frequency or a discrete set of radio frequencies when in a frequency hopping mode.

CNRs are primarily used for push-to-talk-operated radio nets for command and control of combat, combat support, and combat service support operations among military ground, sea, and air forces.

SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (SDR):

• Any radio system wirelessly transmits/receives signals in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum to facilitate the transfer of information.
• Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been traditionally implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by means of software on
  • Personal computer or
  • Embedded system.
• SDR is a very special kind of advance Radio system in which the physical layer functions are defined as software functionality i.e. a software code executes the role of a Circuit Board of the conventional radio and software-based filtering algorithms are used for frequency selection,”

SOURCE:PIB

MCQs:

Q. Consider the following Statements.

1. The contemporary Combat Net Radio (CNR) equipment in the Indian Army supports voice communication only and has limited or no data transmission capability.
2. Software-defined radio (SDR) supports voice and video communication.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

• a) 1 Only
• b) 2 Only
• c) Both 1 and 2
• d) Neither 1 nor 2

ANS: C