The Evolution of the SCA

SCA Next

November 10, 2010

Outline

Personal Introduction

Objectives

Background and History

SCA Next Overview

Overview of SCA Next Changes

Summary

PrismTech Products

References and Resources

Contact Information

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Vince Kovarik

Academic and Publications:B.S & M.S. Computer Science, Ph.D. Computer Engineering

Co-author with John Bard “Software Defined Radio: The Software Communications Architecture”, Wiley and Sons

Chapter author for “Cognitive Radio Technology”, by Dr. Bruce Fette

Awarded three patents

1980s: Harris and Software Productivity SolutionsExperience in Natural Language Understanding, Knowledge Representation and Acquisition and Temporal Reasoning.

Initial OO design with Rumbaugh OMT, Booch OOD, and Jacobsen Use Cases.

Development work in Smalltalk, LISP Flavors, and C/C++

1990s: STI/ExigentInitial CORBA work as Chief SW Architect for the Ground Segment of Satellite Command and Control System for IRIDIUM, a large-scale distributed system.

Started work in SDR in late 90’s as a member of the MSRC.

Domain Management ToolKit (dmTK) product manager, the first commercially available implementation of the SCA.

2001: Harris purchases ExigentdmTK used as initial reference implementation by JTeL and Aeronix for JTAP development.

SW Architect for the insertion of the DARPA XG DSA software into the Falcon III Tactical Radio and demonstration.

Member of the Government Reference Architecture (GRA) team developing a SysML/UML reference model for SATCOM terminal systems.

Member of the SDR Forum Wireless Innovation Forum since 2000. Currently chair of the Technical Committee on Advanced Wireless Networking and Infrastructure.

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Objectives

This is the first of a series of technology-oriented presentations on the SCA and SDR.

The objective of this presentation is to provide:

a historical overview of the SCA and

an overview of the SCA Next initiative

Presentations on PrismTech’s products in support of the SCA Next and other technology topics will be forthcoming.

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Background

Despite rumors of its demise, SCA is alive and well.

SCA has been applied successfully to a variety of radio systems including:

JTRS programs of record

International radio systems

Independently developed products

The international community has been moving forward with SCA, e.g. ESSOR and other programs.

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However…

The successes have not been without some problems.

Limited portability of waveforms

Inadequate abstraction of DSP and FPGA

Non-standard Device interfaces for common radio devices, e.g. AudioPort

Footprint and performance

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A (partial) SCA/SDR History

1990 2000 2010

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A (partial) SCA/SDR History – Enablers

1990 2000 2010

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Early SDR work.

Early OO Modeling and Design

Methodologies.

Enabling standards and organizations.

A (partial) SCA/SDR History – Critical Mass

1990 2000 2010

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???Modular Software Radio Consortium:

Circa late 1990sInitial origins of the SCA

Early work on waveform and OO SDR architectures

and design.

Stable design formalism.

A (partial) SCA/SDR History – Initial Projects

1990 2000 2010

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???

Circa 2002 JTRS Program initial award of

Cluster 1 – Ground Mobile Radios (GMR)

Stable release of SCA released in November 2001

Development of Meta-Object Facility

Collaboration initiated with International Council on Systems Engineering to develop Systems

Modeling Language (SysML)

A (partial) SCA/SDR History - Maturation

1990 2000 2010

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•SCA 2.2 refined and stable. •JTRS APIs developed.•Initial field testing of JTRS radios.•Development of SCA compliant and JTRS certified radios not developed independently of JTRS program.

Development of SysML to bridge gap between System and Software Engineering.

UML Profiles extend capabilities to capture more domain-specific modeling.

A (partial) SCA/SDR History – Now

1990 2000 2010

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SCA Next

•Initiation of SCA Next activity in Wireless Innovation Forum.•Participants represent a cross section of the SCA community.•Collaboration with the JTRS Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO)

•Initial joint meeting of JTRS JPEO and WInF held August 2010 in Washington, DC•Initial SCA Next rollout at the WInF SDR10 conference

Les

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SCA Next Goals and Objectives

Reduce Development ResourcesModification to support more reusability

Reduce Test and Certification TimeThe cost of certification is substantial and labor intensive.

Improve PerformanceStreamline initialization and deployment

Incorporate Lessons LearnedApply knowledge gained through experience on existing programs

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Independent Effort

SCA Next is not a formal project

Strong support within the communityJTRS participants

Wireless Innovation Forum

Independent contributors

Approximately 60 changes were submitted23 selected for resolution

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Focus Areas

Platform Independent Specification

Increase Compliance Points

Better Component / Interface Separation

Better Integration of Systems and Software

Address Recurring Issues in Design and Deployment

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Active Change Requests

Requirements Revision

Enhance Automated Testing

Deployment Optimization

Lightweight Components

CORBA Neutral / Evolution

Architecture Consistency

Application Enhancements – Nested Apps

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Active Change Requests

Application Enhancements – Interconnected Applications

Recommended C++ Features

Interface Definition Language (IDL) Refactoring

Lightweight AEP

Service Deployment and Initialization

Component Model

Developer’s User Guide

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Requirements Revisions

Enhanced Automated Testing

Reviewed 123 of 484 OE requirements that do not have an automated test in JTAP and assigned to one of three categories:

Automatable (29 w/ 1 approved)

Consider for re-write (58 may not be possible)

Consider for removal (27 w/ 3 approved)

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Automated Testing Issues

Some requirements are difficult if not impossible to force the test condition, e.g.

Raise FileException error on remove operation when a file-related error occurs.

Early versions of JTAP attempted to induce a file-related error by removing the file through a O/S command after opening through the CF::FileSystem.

File is not removed until all processes that have an active handle to the file exit.

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Push Registration and Static Ports

One of the more significant areas of proposed changes.

Basic concept is to provide all necessary data with the registration call rather than utilize “pull” calls from the component receiving the registration call.

Provides Ports may be defined as “static”, i.e. the lifecycle of the Port is tied to the lifecycle of the component and registered with the CF on instantiation.

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Static Deployment

Optimize deployment for “known” radio systems and waveforms.

Generate a static IOR for the Provides Port as part of the build process that maps to the target platform.

The static IOR provides a priori knowledge during system boot and waveform instantiation eliminating lookup in the Name Service or other repository.

Application instantiation time is streamlined by directly connecting the components through the static IORs.

Impact to tools, build process and core framework.

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CORBA Neutral Representation

Remove CORBA specific wording

Modify SCA interface representation (UML) to one that can be mapped to other technologies

Define mapping rules to create existing SCA equivalent.

Define mapping rules for a alternate technology.

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CORBA Neutral Challenges

Refactor the current specification into a well-formed UML model.

Developed the initial transformation of the UML-based model into the equivalent CORBA model (PIM PSM)

Develop second transformation that accurately maps into an alternate technology

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CORBA Evolution

Objectives are to define profiles that: Reduce resources,

Allow more freedom to platform designers while still promoting portability

Include widely used features

The profiles would apply to applicationsThe CF, Devices and Services may use (and may require) additional features.

Starting point is Minimum CORBA and CORBA/e

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Full and Lightweight Profiles

Two profiles planned.

Full – Provides features for general platforms and applications

Lightweight – Provides minimal features for highly constrained resources.

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Summary of Features

Allow additional ORB_init parameters to create a rootPOA with static, non-default policy settings.

Any type only allowed in Full profileDeprecate use of Any and other complex types

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Full Profile

Similar to CORBA/e with some minor features removed

Some features added such as:Thread Pools

Sever Security Model

Server and Client ProtocolPolicy

Many of the added features are supported by current ORB vendors including PrismTech

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Lightweight Profile

Eliminates the Any type and, consequently, does not support the Resource or PropertySet interfaces

Only CORBA/e Basic types are recommended – intended to enhance compatibility with FPGAs.

Minimum management calls supported.

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Lightweight Components

Basic concept is to support only those interfaces required for a particular object implementation.

Considered optional Realization and Inheritance relations.

Preferred approach was to use optional inheritance to a common base interface, e.g. Resource.

The waveform component would Realize the Resource interface which would have optional inheritance of other interfaces.

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Resource Interfaces

Lightweight components provide an optional cardinality [0..1] to the generalization/specialization association.

Additional interface changes and refactoring of IDL is proposed within this area.

Potential impact may be significant.

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class Resource Interface

«CORBAInterface»Resource

+ identifier: string

+ start() : void+ stop() : void

«CORBAInterface»PropertySet

+ query(configProperties :Properties) : void+ configure(configProperties :Properties*) : void

«CORBAInterface»PortSupplier

+ getPort(name :string) : Object

«CORBAInterface»LifeCycle

+ initialize() : void+ releaseObject() : void

«CORBAInterface»TestableObject

+ runTest(testid :unsigned long, testValues :Properties*) : void

Wav eform Component

Optional inheritance

IDL Refactorization – Current IDL 31

class CF Interfaces

«CORBAInterface»PropertySet

«CORBAInterface»Dev ice

«CORBAInterface»Dev iceManager

«CORBAInterface»Resource

«CORBAInterface»LifeCycle

«CORBAInterface»PortSupplier

«CORBAInterface»LoadableDev ice

«CORBAInterface»ExecutableDev ice

«CORBAInterface»ApplicationFactory

«CORBAInterface»ResourceFactory

«CORBAInterface»File

«CORBAInterface»FileSystem

«CORBAInterface»FileManager

«CORBAInterface»Port

«CORBAInterface»AggregateDev ice

«CORBAInterface»Application

«CORBAInte...TestableObject

«CORBAInterface»DomainManager

uses

uses

uses

uses

uses

uses

uses

IDL Refactorization

The OMG SW RADIO specification used as a starting point

Develop separate IDL files for various elements, e.g. Device, LoadableDevice, etc.

Minimize the amount of CORBA stub code generated and thereby reduce footprint

Retain backward compatibility with the current IDL by incorporating the individual files in a “CF” module

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Summary

SCA Next represents a significant shift in the SCA community.

It has been initiated and performed largely by individuals and companies involved with the SCA or the JTRS program.

It has been a collaborative effort between the industry participants and the JTRS JPEO.

It is intended to be an open, international standard.

More work is required to bridge the gap between a recommendation and incorporation into the standard

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Spectra Support for SCA Next

ORBCORBA/e Profile

Enhanced performance through zero copy

High-Performance transport

C and C++ ORB support

Core FrameworkStatic deployment and device assignment sequence

IDL refactorization

Static deployment

Push registration

Spectra CX Development ToolCORBA neutral representation

C/C++ code generation

Testing automation

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Spectra CX Tool 35

Spectra OE Studio 36

DSP

e*ORBC & C++

FPGA

e*ORB C ICO

Spectra OE Flexible ArchitecturesSpectra OE Flexible Architectures

Extensible Transport FrameworkExtensible Transport Framework

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

GPP DSP FPGA

CoreFramework

DSP

e*ORBC & C++

FPGA

e*ORB C ICO

Spectra OE Flexible ArchitecturesSpectra OE Flexible Architectures

Extensible Transport FrameworkExtensible Transport Framework

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

GPP DSP FPGA

CoreFramework

DSP

e*ORBC & C++

FPGA

e*ORB C ICO

Spectra OE Flexible ArchitecturesSpectra OE Flexible Architectures

Extensible Transport FrameworkExtensible Transport Framework

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

Waveform Component

GPP DSP FPGA

CoreFramework

DTP4500 Architecture 37

DTP4500 Hardware 38

Mistral Board with OMAP 35xx

TransceiverRF Front End

References and Resources 39

SCA: http://sca.jpeojtrs.mil/sca.asp

SCA Next: http://sca.jpeojtrs.mil/scanext.asp

JTRS APIs: http://sca.jpeojtrs.mil/api.asp

JTRS Portability Guidelines: http://sca.jpeojtrs.mil/_downloads/20091228_1.2.1_NEDTE_PORT_GUIDE.pdf

Note: This is a single, large PDF file.

Next Technology Webcast

When: January 2011

Objective: Explore one or two SCA Next topics in more detail.

Discuss impact and interaction with tooling, development and deployment

Your input is appreciatedForward questions and topic suggestions to:

vince.kovarik@prismtech.com

With “SCA Next Webcast” in the subject

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For Information on Products and Services: 41

E-mail:info@prismtech.com

www:www.prismtech.com/spectra

Your PrismTech account manager

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Thank You

Any Questions?