Problem 1: Spectrum Access for First Responders
The Scenario:
You are a first responder on the scene following a major earthquake. To effectively do your job, you need share significant amounts of data with other first responders including, for example, digital video, high-resolution pictures, high-resolution maps, and building floor plans. However, given the number of responders on the scene, the airwaves are clogged and you can’t send or receive the necessary data in a reliable manner using your conventional radio technology, and communications is compounded by urban propagation conditions. You are very concerned that your inability to communicate information quickly to the proper recipient is costing peoples lives.
The Challenge:
Develop a smart radio system that will automatically find available spectrum within a pre-defined band and transmit data over that band with a pre-defined QoS.
Problem 2: Communications Interoperability
The Scenario
A major forest fire has occurred in Southern California . This fire has spread out of control and has forced a number of local communities to evacuate as the fire approaches their homes and offices. Fire fighters and other emergency responders from organizations and jurisdictions nation wide have responded to this emergency, with each group bringing their own equipment. Unfortunately the radio equipments from the various jurisdictions are not interoperable with each other or with the civilian radio infrastructure, and this lack of interoperability is causing a huge problem in coordinating efforts. Without a way to allow these various radio equipments to interoperate, this lack of coordination has put the responders at risk, and has forced many front line responders to carry several radios to allow an appropriate level of inter-organizational communication.
The Challenge
Develop a smart radio terminal that can automatically provide interoperability between radios with different modulations, voice, and network protocols, and which knows how to forward messages to the proper network – be it commercial or civil.
Problem 3: Traffic Management
The Scenario
You are driving into work, and the freeway is a parking lot. You listened to the traffic report on the radio, but given that the weather is poor, there are a lot of accidents, and as such there wasn’t really a lot you could go on to choose an alternate route. As you sit there with your engine running, watching your gas gauge move towards empty, you think to yourself that there must be a better way to manage these kinds of traffic problems.
The Challenge
Develop a smart radio system that can, using available spectrum, accurately detect the location of many vehicles within the city and assess the velocity along common roadways. The system will then provide user specific route guidance from starting point to ending point which will minimize total fuel consumption.. The system must be future proof, to allow new features and capabilities to be added over an expected 10-year life span of the vehicle without requiring a visit to the dealer.
Problem 4: Rapid Application Development
The Scenario
You are the lead system engineer for a mobile radio terminal that is going to be used by an oil exploration team. The details of the communications link required by this team are in flux, and will not be finalized until after you arrive at the site. You know that you have developed the radio hardware specifically to support these types of quick response requests, including the use of programmable processing devices such as FPGAs and DSPs for implementing the air interface, but are concerned that you may not have developed the platform’s software infrastructure sufficiently to support the tight time frame for this request.
The Challenge
Develop two smart radio terminals and demonstrate a process that will allow them to communicate using a new advanced air interface standard that is developed and deployed on the terminals in less than 8 hours.