Insights into portability issues of FM3TR waveform

This manuscript focuses on issues related to the implementation of the Future Multiband Multiwaveform Modular Tactical Radio (FM3TR) waveform on two different SCA platforms with similar hardware but different SCA development and deployment environments. Our experimental results showed that a SCA standardization based on technologies such as CORBA, XML, IDL, is not enough to ensure the portability of the waveform. Indeed, the files generated by SCA 2.2.2 environments (ZCE, SCA Architect, http://nordiasoft.com/products/scari-software-suite/sca-architect/ ) may often use a specific non-standard IDL interface to generate software components. To corroborate our statement, specific examples of SCA components are considered. The portability of the waveform depends on the waveform software used by the porting team. Three classic cases can be observed during the development of a waveform according to a standard specification: The first case is related to waveform development from scratch, the second case is observed when a static library is used to carry the golden code of the waveform and the third one occurs when only platform specific codes are available to the porting process. Finally, a general discussion about portability is provided.