Behnam Shakibafar

Mr. Behnam Shakibafar

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

3Years (2024-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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14 September 2024 in Sensors
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
BSBehnam Shakibafar
Behnam Shakibafar
FFFarzan Farhangian
Farzan Farhangian
JGJean-Marc Gagne
Jean-Marc Gagne
RLRene Jr Landry
Rene Jr Landry
FNFrederic Nabki
Frederic Nabki
This study introduces a reconfigurable and agile RF front-end (RFFE) architecture that significantly enhances the performance of software-defined radios (SDRs) by seamlessly adjusting to varying signal requirements, frequencies, and protocols. This flexibility greatly enhances spectrum utilization, signal integrity, and overall system efficiency—critical factors in aviation, where reliable communication, navigation, and surveillance systems are vital for safety. A versatile RF front-end is thus indispensable, enhancing connectivity and safety standards. We explore the integration of this flexible RF front-end in SDRs, focusing on the detailed design of essential components, such as receivers, transmitters, RF switches, combiners, and splitters, and their corresponding RF pathways. Comprehensive performance evaluations confirm the architecture’s reliability and functionality, including an extensive analysis of receiver gain, linearity, and two-tone test results. These assessments validate the architecture’s suitability for aviation radios and address considerations of size, weight, and power-cost (SWaP-C), demonstrating significant gains in operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The introduction of the new RF front-end on a single SDR board not only substantially reduces size and weight but also adds up to 18 dB gain to the received signal. It also allows for a high level of design flexibility, enabling seamless software transitions between different radios and the capacity to manage three times more radios with the same hardware, thereby significantly boosting the system’s ability to handle multiple radio channels efficiently.