Mostly Digital Wireless UltraWide Band Communication Architecture for Software Defined Radio

The objective of this competition was to design, construct and demonstrate a working wireless communication architecture for software defined radio (SDR). The implementation had to contain at least one programmable device, the front-end analog RF circuitry, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and an analog output. This SDR student design contest required multiple disciplines. There was a need for skills in RF analog design and wave propagation for the front-end and the antennas, digital signal processing (DSP) for the physical layer, and network setup and protocols for the medium access control (MAC). A coordinated design effort in the different disciplines was necessary to ensure that the different parts work together. The main criteria for judging were innovation and success of reaching the goals that the student team had set. The target of this subject was based on a real aeronautic industry demand concerning real time, synchronized and high data-rate instrumentation wireless sensor network for in-flight aircraft test.