SDRPHY - XML description for SDR physical layer

Software defined radio hardware has matured to a point where wide deployment is called for. Unfortunately, the standardization efforts have not yet achieved maturity. Military users are not reaping the benefits of SDR due to excessively complex software development and tight coupling between hardware and software. This paper proposes a standard for describing the physical layer – the waveforms. The SDRPHY standard provides a hardware-agnostic approach to describing the desired waveform and for querying the capabilities of an SDR. It is complementary and can build upon existing standards such as JTRS/SCA and STRS. All functionality is based on XML, with XML schemas used to specify capabilities. A hardware-specific interpreter provides an interface between the XML and SDR implementation. The core of the standard has now been defined, covering hundreds of waveform parameters from modulation to coding and framing. An interactive website has been created to facilitate collaboration with industry and academia. This paper describes the philosophy behind the standard, introduces the XML notation and paradigms for both configuring a radio and querying its status and capabilities. We also present a design demonstrating the use of the proposed standard to interface SDRs implemented using GNURadio, SCA, and a custom FPGA. A key goal of the paper is to solicit input from interested parties and to foster the acceptance of this open and free standard.