A Lightweight, Low-Cost, Wideband Software-Defined Radio Test Bed

The concept of a software-defined radio (SDR), capable of reconfiguring its signal processing to meet situational demands, was introduced in literature over 30 years ago. At the time, systems were held back due to hardware limitations and the fact that computation was expensive. Since the inception of SDR, significant technological improvements have been made, driving the cost of SDR systems down to the point where the flexibility they provide far outweighs their price tag. In this paper, we introduce the design specification and capability of a proven SDR system dubbed the Communications Experimentation, Low-cost, Lightweight Software defined radio Test Bed (CELLS Test Bed). In addition, we provide example applications which demonstrate the wide-array of applications to which the CELLS Test Bed can be applied.