The major focus of software-defined radio (SDR) has been in the military, commercial wireless infrastructure, public safety/homeland defense, cellular handsets, and wireless LAN (WLAN) markets. Of these, military, commercial wireless infrastructure, and handset markets have driven SDR revenues from about $1.1 billion in 2003 to an estimated $5.3 billion by 2007, according to a report compiled by market research firm Venture Development Corp. As per the VDC report, “Software-Defined Radio: North American & European Market Demand Analysis,” the U.S. military is the largest proponent and purchaser of SDR equipment. Consequently, shipments of SDR equipment to the U.S. military are forecast to reach more than $1.7 billion by 2007. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.4% between 2003 and 2007.

Most U.S. SDR procurement takes place through the Department of Defense's (DoD) joint tactical radio system (JTRS) program. JTRS was started seven years ago in an effort to coordinate the replacement of about 750,000 U.S. military radios with 250,000 to 320,000 SDR radios and has been the major impetus for this emerging technology. Unlike previous radio systems, these new SDR radios can interoperate with each other and be upgraded via software to incorporate the latest communications technologies. Since its inception, the program has been expanded to enable interoperability with the British military, NATO and other Allied Forces.

The JTRS program is divided into four sub-programs known as Clusters. Contracts for Cluster 5 and the AMF cluster were recently awarded. Initial contract awards, primary contractors and subcontractors include:

• Cluster 1 — initial award $857 million. Lead by Boeing, other members include Agile Communications, Nova Engineering, BAE Systems, BBN Technologies, Harris RF, Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, Vanu, ViaSat and Xetron.

• Cluster 2, which is an update of an existing contract, is headed by Thales Innovative Concepts.

• In the AMF Cluster (previously Clusters 3 and 4), there are two teams. With initial award of $54.6 million, Team 1 is led by Boeing with other members being BBN Technologies, Harris Corp., L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman (Decision Systems), MILCOM Systems Corp., and Rockwell Collins. Team 2 is directed by Lockheed Martin with an initial award of $51 million. Other members of Team 2 include BAE Systems, Cisco Systems, General Dynamics C4 Systems, Northrop Grumman (Space Technologies), NOVA Engineering, Raytheon Integrated Communications Systems, Scientific Research Corp., and Thales.

• Cluster 5, which has an initial award of $295 million, is headed by General Dynamics. Others in the sub-contract line include Agile Communications, Altera, BAE Systems, Motorola, PrismTech, RedZone Technologies, Rockwell Collins, Thales, and Vanu.

Senior VDC telecom/datacom analyst Chad Hart stated, “The JTRS program continues to invigorate the SDR market with new products and technologies. These recent contracts will help to further entrench traditional military players like General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. However, these recent awards will also help catapult several smaller SDR vendors' revenues such as PrismTech and Vanu, as well as create many new opportunities for many other emerging players outside of the contract teams.”

For further information, visit www.vdc-corp.com/telecom/reports/04/br04-02.html.