The Software Defined Radio (SDR) Forum is establishing a special interest group (SIG) that will focus on the needs of the worldwide tactical radio community. The Forum, a nonprofit international industry association supporting the advancement of reconfigurable wireless technology, also announced that members will vote on approval of four significant documents at the organization’s general meeting on Nov. 9, immediately following the SDR 2007 technical conference and product exposition in Denver, Colo.

The new SIG, scheduled for launch early next year, will provide an international venue for discussing the lessons learned in developing and deploying the current generation of SDRs. A key objective of the group will be to identify the main trends for tactical radios in light of modernization efforts now underway and in the perspective of future net-centric operations, including the U.S. DoD’s Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and the European Secured Software Defined Radio Referential (ESSOR) programs.

The Forum is seeking participation by a cross-section of players in the worldwide tactical radio community, including radio system developers, waveform developers, end users, government, technology providers, and spectrum managers. The four ballot initiatives scheduled for a vote at the Forum’s general meeting include:

· a derivation of cognitive-radio applications for public safety, based on a review of the 2005 terrorist bombings in London, and how the use of software-defined and cognitive-radio technologies could help first responders communicate more effectively in similar situations;

· a document on cognitive-radio definitions developed in collaboration with the IEEE P1900.1 group to provide a single set of definitions supported by both organizations;

· a smart-antenna application programming interface specification, which addresses a key need in the SDR community;

· recommendations to NASA for its Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS).

Those interested should contact David Murotake, chairman of the SDR Forum’s Markets Committee and CEO of SCA Technica, at dmurotak@scatechnica.com.