The oft-honored Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, is the recipient of the Wireless Innovation Forum Leadership Award (formerly International Achievement Award). The award recognizes “especially significant contributions in furthering the global mission of the Wireless Innovation Forum.” A prolific technical author, academic, and engineer, Rohde is a partner of Rohde & Schwarz in Munich, Germany, and chairman of Synergy Microwave Corp, in Paterson, New Jersey.

While working under an RCA US Department of Defense contract in 1982, Rohde’s department developed the first software defined radio (SDR), which used the COSMAC (complementary symmetry monolithic array computer) chip. Rohde was among the first to present publicly on this topic with his 1985 talk, “Digital HF Radio: A Sampling of Techniques,” at the Third International Conference on HF Communication Systems and Techniques in London.

“Since then Rohde has actively driven innovation in the field of SDR, both in industry and academia,” the Award announcement said. Rohde holds some 50 patents. In December 2016, Rohde was invited to deliver the Sir J.C. Bose Memorial Lecture on “Next-Generation Networks: Software-Defined Radio — Emerging Trends,” at IEEE Hyderabad, India. In the 2017 edition of Communications Receivers, Rohde and his co-authors set SDR at the core of modern communications systems design.

A project in which Rohde & Schwarz is involved also was honored. The Wireless Innovation Forum conferred its Technology of the Year award on the German Armed Forces Joint, Composite Radio Equipment (SVFuA — Streitkraeftegemeinsame, Verbundfaehige Funkgeraete-Ausstattung) Project, which had the objective of developing an SDR system for joint and combined operations for the German Federal Armed Forces. Rohde & Schwarz, the lead industry partner in the SVFuA project, has facilitated the effort through its waveform development environment.

Winners were announced at the Wireless Innovation Forum Conference on Communications Technologies and Software Defined Radio (WInnComm 2017), held in San Diego November 15-17.