Etherstack awarded Swedish TETRA SDR Contract

Etherstack today announced the win of a major new contract with Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration, the Frsvarets materielverk (FMV).

The contract is for the supply of TETRA Protocol Stacks and Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology and services for a joint project between the Swedish Department of Defence and the US Department of Defense related to the US Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) programme.

The purpose of the project is to demonstrate TETRA operating in an SDR and develop techniques in the deployment of wireless software known as waveform software into future Software Defined Radios, such as those that would be used in the JTRS.

The task consists of taking Etherstack’s existing commercial TETRA protocol stack technology, and converting it to conform to a new radio software architecture known as the Software Communications Architecture (SCA). The SCA is being considered by many defence organisations around the world to ease deployment and interoperability of SDRs. An obvious outcome of the deployment of this new TETRA technology, will be the ability for European military personnel to communicate with civilian emergency services and security personnel in the event of a national emergency.

The SCA can almost be considered an operating system for a radio, allowing wireless protocol stack developers, such as Etherstack, to develop air interface signaling software known as ‘waveforms’ that can run on multiple radio manufacturers equipment if they support the SCA. In the future, this will allow a single radio device such as a handheld to be able to communicate with multiple different networks such as GSM, UMTS, TETRA and APCO P25, as the need arises.

The contract award is one of a growing number of defence contracts in this new technology area awarded around the world. Etherstack’s Managing Director, Mr David Deacon said today, “We are honored to have been selected by the Swedish Government for this ground breaking project. With Etherstack’s large library of highly portable waveform protocol products, we believe Etherstack is well positioned to take advantage of the emerging SDR market for SCA compliant protocol products.”

Etherstack plans on commercially offering a wide range of SCA compatible waveforms in the near future, including GSM, TETRA, APCO Project 25 and UMTS for both mobile and base station implementations. “Etherstack is well positioned to become the leading supplier of SCA waveform products in the world”, said Mr David Deacon. For more information:

David Deacon, Etherstack
+31 627 477 560
david.deacon@etherstack.com