VITA 49

The VITA Radio Transport standards encapsulate RF data. It emphasizes precise timestamps and rich signal information, and seeks to be a common means of moving custom analog IC logic into COTS digital networks--a kind of virtual SDR. The published standards are not offered freely, save to VITA associates.

Receipt

• Context packet -- describes properties of the radio components and antenna
  • DDC: tuning, bandwidth
  • ADC: sample rate, triggering
  • RF tuner: bandwidth, gain, phase lock
  • Antenna: azimuth, angle, polarization, location, altitude, speed, heading
• Signal packet -- IF/digitized RF/baseband data, ID, timestamp, spectral survey
  • supplied by the DDC
• VRT information stream combines Context and Signal packets
• Configuration remained ad hoc in VITA 49, added in VITA 49.2 as Control Packets
  • Uses same fields as Context packets
  • ACKed by controlled devices
  • Can be used to interrogate device properties on demand
  • Can program simple loops and event triggers
  • Very similar to CAN in these regards

Context descriptors

• 1-D Pointing Angle, ADC Sample Rate, Bandwidth, Frequency, GPS Coordinates, Velocity Vector, Power or Gain Settings, Reference Point, Timestamp, System Latency, 2-D Pointing Angle, Antenna Beamwidth, Noise Figure, Phase, Polarization, Relative Time Stamp, Scan Control, SNR, Waveform Type

Transmission

• Signal packets containing waveform and time schedule