Project title: IONOSPHERIC PROPAGATION PREDICTIONS AND WIDE-BAND COMMUNICATIONS WITH SDR SENSORS IN THE HF RANGE FOR EMERGENCY INFORMATIONAL SUPPORT IN ROMANIA
Acronym: SIRIUS
Identification information:
Financial data: 1.437.500 lei (319.500 EUR)
Contractant authority: Executive Unit for Financing of Funding Higher Education, Research Development and Innovation, Romania (UEFISCDI)
Contractor: “Nicolae Balcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania
Project manager: Paul Bechet
The project aims to implement software and hardware solutions that integrate ionospheric sounding algorithms in a network of sdr (software defined radio) sensors in order to develop and validate a hf (high frequency) ionospheric prediction model for the territory of romania. It envisages a systemic approach of the communication network through the implementation, development and integration of recent technological solutions from the perspective of providing information support for the management of interventions in disaster areas where communication infrastructure does not exist or is damaged. Project results can be applied not only in the rapid resolution of remote communications in emergency situations, but can be extended to other applications in the hf communications range, such as encrypted data communication links for the government or the military. Nowadays there are classical narrowband solutions for voice and data communications and for position reporting. There are also standards and equipment, mainly used in the military, allowing the analysis of link quality using narrowband channels and automatic link establishment (ale) (e.g. Ale for 3g equipment). On international level there can be noticed an intensification of the research performed on the hf range, on the one hand by the identification of adaptive wideband waveforms, able to achieve high transfer rates in terms of variable snrs (signal to noise ratio), and, on the other hand, by developing platforms based on the "cognitive radio" technology for dynamic spectrum allocation and collaborative work. In romania, in order to establish hf communications, it is necessary to establish short distance communication links (below 600 km), able to surpass natural obstacles (mountain ranges), which requires the use of antennas with high elevation angles (nvis - near vertical incident skywave) and a thorough study on the ionospheric propagation mechanism in terms of f2 layer critical frequency variations. The project proposes a detailed analysis of ionospheric propagation in eastern europe, for the development and validation of propagation models by means of measurements performed with hf sensors implemented on sdr platforms. Hf sensors will be integrated in a client-server architecture ("cooperative sensing"), where the information is transmitted and capitalized by the central server and used to control sensors and perform real-time monitoring of the state of the ionosphere. Ionospheric model validation will be done by three methods: oblique ionospheric sounding, passive ionospheric sounding and estimating the electronic density based on the reception of signals emitted by global navigation systems (gnss). Integrating the measurements made with the hf sensors will result in the implementation of algorithms able to detect and classify hf emissions in order to improve communication services through the automatic adaptation to the status of the ionospheric channel. The main deliverables of the project are: an ionospheric model which is specific for eastern europe; algorithms for the automatic identification and classification of waveforms in order to increase the transfer rate and to implement techniques for dynamically accessing the hf resources; sdr solutions for local monitoring and collaborative spectrum sensing in the hf range; a hf radio network on the territory of romania which allows high transfer rates in collaborative environments, by automatically adapting to specific conditions of ionospheric propagation at high angles of elevation.
Estimated results: