Software-Defined Radios for Wireless Defense Tech
The next generation of wireless defense technology will demand simultaneous advances across frequency coverage, instantaneous bandwidth, channel count, and real-time processing throughput, paired with a flexible stack capable of design evolution and native AI integration.
To expand on some of these growing capabilities:
Wideband signal intelligence (SIGINT) IP requires ADC sample rates and data transport architectures capable of handling hundreds of MHz of spectrum without gaps
Coherent radar and target emulation require phase-aligned multi-channel transmit and receive with loop latencies tight enough to close in real time
Advanced SATCOM and growing investment in non-terrestrial networks demand software-reconfigurable modulation and coding to simulate orbital channel conditions that no single hardware profile can capture statically.
Tactical comms and O-RAN need hardware that support standard interfaces, such as eCPRI and LLS, while remaining flexible for ever-evolving standards
What You’ll Learn in this Article
Software defined radios, and particular the NI/Ettus USRP platform, address these requirements through a combination of high-performance RF front-ends, FPGA-based real-time processing, and software frameworks that decouple signal processing logic from the underlying hardware.
The result is a development platform that can adapt in software rather than forcing hardware redesigns, a meaningful technical scope and schedule risk reduction at n in programs where specifications routinely evolve through the development cycle.
Below we outline five high-investment application areas where SDRs are equipping the innovation curve.
Radar Prototyping
Developing novel radar waveforms on dedicated hardware has historically been slow and inflexible. USRPs, through GNU Radio, C++, and FPGA support, can perform pulse compression, Doppler processing, and adaptive waveform generation on the same platform throughout the design cycle.
Instantaneous bandwidths of 400 MHz or more accommodate high-range-resolution waveforms, and FPGA-based signal processing supports the real-time loop closures that coherent radar requires. Waveform libraries can be iterated in software without touching the hardware stack.
Signal Intelligence (SIGINT)
SIGINT front-ends demand wide instantaneous bandwidth, low noise figures, and sufficient data transport throughput to handle dense emitter environments without dropping samples. High-bandwidth interfaces—10 GbE, 100 GbE, PCIe Gen 3—stream raw IQ data to analysis pipelines at rates that match wideband collection requirements.
FPGA resources onboard the USRP SDR handle pre-processing, including channelization, energy detection, coarse classification, helping to reduce host-side bottlenecks and increase overall network throughout.
O-RAN
O-RAN (Open RAN) disaggregates the radio access network across standardized interfaces—separating RU, DU, and CU functions and enabling multi-vendor deployments. For tactical communications, this translates to field-configurable radio infrastructure that isn't dependent on a single integrator.
USRP have been used for lower-layer split (LLS) and eCPRI interfaces, integrating with open-source RAN stacks including OpenAirInterface and srsRAN.
Target Emulation
Threat emulation for electronic warfare system design and validation requires calibrated signal injection across frequency, time, and, polarization, with enough channel independence to represent multi-target scenarios.
SATCOM and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)
On top of the USRP architecture, teams developing SATCOM, PNT, or ISR payloads can close link budgets and validate protocol behavior against channel models that reflect actual orbital geometry early in the program cycle.
LEO, MEO, and GEO links introduce Doppler offsets, asymmetric propagation delays, and link margin variability that terrestrial testbeds don't capture well. SDRs with wide frequency coverage and software-configurable modulation and coding schemes support NTN protocol development without purpose-built satellite ground station hardware.
USRP for Mission-Critical Wireless
The NI/Ettus USRP software-defined radio platform is built on the Xilinx/AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC, combining wideband RF coverage, FPGA-based real-time processing, and open-source toolchain support for advanced wireless development.
The platform features models delivering different channel counts, FPGA sizes, and packaging for a variety of application requirements.
For developing software on the USRP, there are different approaches for developing new applications and integrating existing IP, though the general approach we recommend is using the UHD driver and GNU Radio framework. This approach provides for open-source signal processing pipelines from early prototyping through OTA validation without a toolchain migration.
Below is a more comprehensive breakdown of the software landscape for USRP SDRs:
UHD (USRP driver): primary open-source driver for USRP hardware
GNU Radio: open-source graphical signal processing framework
RFNoC (RF Network-on-Chip): FPGA acceleration framework with a software API and modular block architecture; supports C++, Python, and GNU Radio integration
LabVIEW: Graphical programming language used for FPGA IP and
Conclusion
With a wireless technology landscape constantly evolving to meet the needs of tomorrow, engineering teams building new capabilities on an open, FPGA-enabled platform will have an edge in staying ahead of the curve. If you're scoping a new wireless project and want to discuss options for SDRs and development frameworks, the Cyth team can come alongside to support you while getting off the ground and building out your technology..