Aatmanirbhar Bharat: India Will Manufacture Software-defined Radios For The Armed Forces

The indigenisation of Software Defined Radios (SDRs) will now be accelerated in order to meet the demand of the Indian Armed Forces across a wide range of operations. SDR can handle a variety of waveforms, including wideband and narrowband applications.

How will the indigenisation of this critical instrument help the Armed Forces?

Once developed in India, this indigenous technology will be available for use by the Indian Army and Air Force. The forces use this SDR to transfer voice, data, and video information at high rates.

How does it help?

“Troops on the ground carrying portable handheld SDR versions will be able to integrate with higher echelons to achieve true C4I capability.”

“With indigenised SDR technology, the possibility of Swarms of Drones operating in future battlefields appears to be a possibility,”

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are collaborating to indigenize the SDR, according to an official statement issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday.

Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar stated in a statement issued by the Mod that the indigenisation of SDR technology is an important milestone toward achieving ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in this field.

The life cycle management process is critical for protecting and securing sensitive SDR technology and products. And the entire process involves an ecosystem of indigenous development, manufacturing, design, testing/certification, and maintenance.

The three services – Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy – have been working on the development of a family of modular and interoperable SDRs versions – Manpack (SDR-MP) and SDR-HH (Hand Held), Airborne (SDR-AR), Naval Combat (SDR-NC), and Tactical (SDR-TT) (SDR-TAC).

Since last February, the Indian Army has been replacing legacy radios with indigenously developed V/UHF Manpack SDRs under the Make-II category. The CNR for Armoured Fighting Vehicles (CNR-AFV) will also be SDR-based in the coming years.

Standardised Operating Software Environment (OE) and Applications (also known as waveforms) and their associated waveforms repository and test/certification facility are two important components of indigenous SDR technology.

According to the MoD, the Standard OE enables waveform portability and interoperability among multiple SDR vendors, and the ministry has decided to develop and define reference implementations of India’s operating environment. This profile is known as the India Software Communication Architecture (SCA).

The concept of a ‘India SCA Profile’ was pioneered by Dr. Abhay Karandikar, Director of IIT Kanpur and Chairman of the MoD’s SCA Committee.

DEAL/DRDO has already prepared a draught project report that clearly states the timelines and roadmap to help accelerate the indigenisation process.

Who will steer the project?

The Directorate of Standardisation (DoS) in the Department of Defence Production will be involved in the development of IRSA. In three to six months, industry, academia, and the DRDO will assist. And there will be additional months for testing, compliance certification tools, and reference implementation.

Importance of IRSA

Being notified by the DoS will assist Indian software vendors in integrating and making the SDRs security gradable and interoperable. And will be shared with industry in order to develop SDRs that will be used by the Indian Armed Forces as well as exported to friendly nations.

The three institutions involved in the development, namely DEAL/DRDO, IIT-Kanpur, and DoS, have already begun work in accordance with the DPR, and it is expected to be completed on time.

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