Hosted by Claude Bélisle of Communications Research Centre Canada, this workshop will allow government organizations to present key issues in radio communications which they will be looking to industry and academia to address over the next 3 to 5 years through R&D activities. The objective of the workshop is to provide the SDR Forum's members and guests with insight into the Government's mid to long term communications requirements, and to help the Forum and its members to identify technology areas where investment is required to meet those requirements. This workshop will help the Forum to set strategy for the next several years and may act as a basis for the SDR Forum’s R&D agenda. 

Workshop Program:

08:30-09:30 SDR'09 Conference Keynote (open to Government R&D Agendas Workshop Participants only)
Presented by Carlo Magrassi, Deputy Chief, Executive Strategy, European Defense Agency on “EDA’s Approach to SDR – One Architecture and One Standard for a European Joint and Combined Capability”.

09:40-11:50 JTRS SBIR Industry Day - collocated with SDR'09

In this session, representatives of the JPEO JTRS will provide an overview of the JTRS SBIR program and present an overview of the topics covered in their 10.1 solicitation.

Additional information on the JTRS SBIR Program can be found here

Attendance in this session is free, but registration is required.
Participation in other events related to SDR '09 requires payment of the associated conference fees. 

11:50 to 13:50 Lunch and Product Exhibition (open to Government R&D Agendas Workshop Participants only)

13:50-16:00 Afternoon Government R&D Agendas Workshop Sessions

“Wireless Research at DARPA” Presented by Dr. Bruce Fette, Program Manager, Strategic Technology Office, DARPA
About the Speaker: Dr. Fette joined DARPA in April 2009, as a program manager in the Strategic Technology Office. Dr. Fette’s interests cover many fields including cognitive radio, cognitive networking, signal processing , LSI, radio communications components, subsystems, and system applications enabled by next generation radio technologies.  Dr. Fette’s current programs involve cognitive techniques to enhance the scalability of radio communication networks, enhance the usability to the solders on the edge, improve situation awareness, and to lower radio system costs.
Dr. Fette has been a major participant in many Software Defined Radio programs, including the Speakeasy program sponsored by DARPA. Dr. Fette was a founding member of the SDR Forum, and performed many roles there, most recently the role of Technical Chair. In this capacity he also initiated the SDR Forum’s Technical Conference.
Dr. Fette earned his BSEE degree from University of Cincinnati, and MSEE and PhD from Arizona State University.

“The New Broadband Agenda: Benefits and Challenges to Federal Agencies” Presented by Byron Barker, Chief, Strategic Planning Division, Office of Spectrum Management, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

Abstract:   Ensuring that America has broadband access is an an important priority in the Obama administration.  This presentation will address the benefits and challenges to Federal agencies in achieving these broadband initiatives.  It will touch briefly on what likely be future government requirements in respect to spectrum.

About the speaker: Byron Barker serves as the Chief of the Strategic Planning Division within the Office of Spectrum Management the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The division has the responsibility to plan, develop, and promote a future Federal spectrum management framework ensuring spectrum access that satisfies our nation’s vital interests of national security, public safety and economic opportunity, now and in the future, through long range strategic planning, policies, comprehensive strategies and the incorporation of technology innovation. 

Previous to serving at NTIA, Mr. Barker served as a senior manager within the Department of Defense’s spectrum management organization and as the Chief Architect for the Department’s enterprise architecture for spectrum management, the framework in transforming spectrum management to support the Department’s future vision for net-centric operations and warfare.

Mr. Barker earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a Masters of Arts in Database/Resource Management at Webster University, St. Louis, MO.

“Navy S&T Initiatives for Software Defined Radios” Presented by Ray Cole, Networks and Communication Systems Branch, Naval Research Laboratory

About the Speaker: Mr. Cole has been involved in many of the DoD telecommunication initiatives for over 40 years.  Many of the products that started in the early 70s as technology developments are still in use by all the services. 

Mr. Cole currently heads up the Networks and Communication Systems Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory.  The Branch conducts research and development in the area of military networks and communication systems.

"SDR and Cognitive Radio R&D Initiatives at CERDEC S&TCD's SDR Lab" Presented by Tim Leising, Team Leader for the SDR Laboratory Group, CERDEC S&TCD

About the Speaker: Tim Leising is an Electrical Engineer for the US Army Communications Electronics Research and Development Engineering Center’s (CERDEC) Space & Terrestrial Communications Directorate. Tim is the Team Lead for CERDEC S&TCD’s Software Defined Radio Laboratory and coordinates SDR and Cognitive Radio R&D efforts between CERDEC, industry, and academia. Tim is actively involved and supports various DoD software defined radio projects including the Joint Tactical Radio System. Tim has earned a BSEE from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a MEEE from Stevens Institute of Technology.

16:15 SDR’09 Conference Invited Presentation (open to Government R&D Agendas Workshop Participants only)
"Requirements and Challenges for SDR implementation" presented by Christer Svensson, Professor in Electronic Devices, Linköping University, Sweden

16:40 SDR’09 Keynote Presentation (open to Government R&D Agendas Workshop Participants only)
Presented by Christian Serra, Chief Scientist, Thales Communications and CTO of the ESSOR Program

17:00 SDR’09 Keynote Presentation (open to Government R&D Agendas Workshop Participants only)
Presented by Chris Brady, Vice President, Assured Communications Systems, Communication Networks Division General Dynamics C4 Systems