Standard Radio Nodes in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Spectrum Collaboration Challenge

Abstract

One of the major constructs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) SpectrumCollaboration Challenge (SC2) framework was the standard radio node (SRN). The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) designed the Colosseum, the massive wirelesstest bed behind SC2, and the SRN within it. The SRN provided SC2 competitors a software-definedradio (SDR) as well as compute and storage node resources so that they could develop, test, anddemonstrate collaborative intelligent radio network (CIRN) solutions. The SRN was designed todynamically allocate and de-allocate competitors’ container images while providing them completeaccess to and control of physically attached SDR and network resources. The SRN ensured the competition’s security, integrity, and fairness and isolated each competitor’s files and software. This article discusses the SRN’s architecture and its supporting and commanding systems, including locally managed services and processes.