This ninth annual conference will be centered around four main topic areas listed below (presentation required, paper optional).

Presentations will be 25 minutes in duration, including questions. Conference proceedings containing all presentation materials and any associated papers will be made available to attendees and published online for future reference.

Proposals for presentations from national research and development programs across Europe are especially welcome.
Tracks

Proposals for each track must include an abstract, the author information, the topic area, and sufficient information to validate the quality and technical depth of the proposal. Tracks include:


SDR Standards and the SCA

SDR is still an emerging innovative radio technology in the military tactical domain. The standardization of the various aspects of the SDRs’ software architecture allows increasing the worldwide adoption of this new technology while at the same time preserving the national sovereignty in making decisions on the secure hardware design. The Software Communications Architecture (SCA) as well as its complementing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the most prominent examples in this respect. In the past decade, the SCA has already been adopted globally in all leading SDR development programs. Nevertheless, the SCA is still evolving to make the SDR technology even more powerful, efficient and attractive for e.g. smaller SDR form factors. The compliance criteria for the latest SCA Version 4.1 are currently assessed in a WInnF project.


Waveform Standards and Interoperability

Achieving communication interoperability between different national radios is the ultimate goal in a coalition operation. Thanks to the SDR technology the entire waveform’s baseband signal processing can nowadays be realized in software in terms of a Waveform Application (WFA). In consequence, standardizing Waveforms allows approaching the ultimate goal of coalition interoperability by the concept of “interoperability through portability” of waveforms.


Spectrum Sharing for DSA and Defense Communications

There is consensus that wireless technologies are key for economic growth worldwide. The explosion of wireless devices and the dawning of the IoT era has placed such a heavy demand for access to spectrum. Governments and Industry are facing challenges how to meet such rapidly growing demand for a finite spectrum resource.

Evolutions of C4ISR require additional spectrum resources while the organization of multi-national and joint operations require more agility in spectrum management by forces.



Electronic Warfare

It is important to remember the essential nature of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) for military and for security operations. Superiority cannot be gained without control of the EMS while adversaries are attacking it.

Given recent events and advancements with sophisticated jamming technologies, the US Defense Department is considering recognizing the spectrum as a sixth domain of operations in addition to land, air, sea, space and cyberspace.

More and more convergence is required between electronic warfare and tactical communications, including with interoperable jamming and communications systems operations to gain effectiveness and ensure protection of forces on the field.