System integration of wireless communication systems - Survey and analysis

Authors:

  • Sara Örn Tengstrand
  • Erik Axell
  • Tore Lindgren
  • Kia Wiklundh

Publish date: 2017-11-01

Report number: FOI-R--4455--SE

Pages: 31

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • Radio communication
  • coexistence
  • interference management

Abstract

Well-functioning radio communication is essential for the armed forces' ability to solve their tasks. Even with a well-performed electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) work, coexistence problems may arise between communication systems or with other systems that are of major importance for the platform's protection, action and mobility. The integration work to achieve a desired communication capability is complex and involves compromises between different solutions and actions. This report presents a survey and analysis of certain technical solutions proposed within the area of communication system integration. The task has been to study trends in the field of system integration with a focus on interference management, especially regarding armored vehicles (as well as navy platforms), interesting military projects related to interference issues, as well as useful technologies proposed in the ongoing civilian 5G development. The literature study shows a lack of comprehensive studies in the area of system integration and interference management. It is difficult to determine whether the lack of material on how integration work should be conducted is due to the fact that there is not much available in the area or that the work done is confidential. On the other hand, there is extensive development in some technology areas useful for mitigating coexistence problems, especially those of interest for the ongoing civilian 5G development. Based on the study, it is recommended that the following techniques and methods are further studied: Simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency, for example, to provide simultaneous communication and electronic warfare functions. Estimate of interference parameters and use of adaptive demodulation and decoding. For orthogonal frequency hopping: how the noise level increases when the number of transmitting frequency hop channels increases. A standardized measurement method needs to be developed to enable comparison of different antenna solutions. Prior to future verifications of military platforms, especially marine, new measurement methods of radio interference environment need to be developed. Developments in the following areas should be followed: broadband receivers and how they can be used, vehicle integrated antennas and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in military applications, results from relevant DARPA projects.