A year ago, the European Defence Agency's (EDA) steering board directed the agency to work toward a collective European approach to developing a next-generation SDR as a joint civil/military endeavor. This approach includes the European Commission study project, "WINTSEC," a complementary EDA study on military specifications, which is in fact a major collaborative project of five governments.

The new Preparatory Action for Security Research (PASR) announced by the commission includes a project aimed at improving wireless interoperability for security (WINTSEC). This 3.7 million Euro project studies the deployment of standardized Internetworking layer at core network level and SDR added value for security end users.

The EDA also drafted longer-term military requirements for a future generation of SDR and has published a contract notice to complement the commission WINTSEC project with a 1.75 million Euro study to support a long-term, collective European approach to develop the next generation of interoperable SDR as a joint civil/military endeavor. In addition, Finland, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden have proposed a 100 million Euro study on a European secured software-defined radio referential (ESSOR). This will be an ambitious study aimed at enhancing interoperability — in both Europe and the U.S.—of medium-term national SDR projects and at promoting a truly European technological and industrial capacity of strategic importance.

The ESSOR study, planned to be a Cat B program under the auspices of the EDA, will address the following main objectives in order to give European industry the capability to develop interoperable SDR in the period from 2010 to 2015. These include: 1) Developing, in a relationship with the United States, the normative referential required for development and production of software radios in Europe. 2) Setting up a common security basis to increase interoperability between European forces as well as with the United States. 3) Stimulating a balanced transatlantic relationship on SDR.

The EDA, based in Brussels, Belgium, is an agency within the council of the European Union. It was on July 12, 2004 that Javier Solana, European Union foreign policy chief, was appointed to head the EDA.