In today’s wireless and 5G era, companies and individuals encounter a rising number of security threats on their IoT assets. Wireless RF signals can be intercepted by anyone with low-cost radio equipment and decoded using open-source software, thus it’s imperative to assess connected designs for security vulnerabilities. This includes conducting penetration tests, jamming, replay attacks, and other methods to assess vulnerabilities in IoT RF protocols like Bluetooth, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Z-Wave, etc.

Time-sensitive Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks require ultra-low latency links to be able to properly function. One solution to this is the integration of high performance software defined radio (SDR) platforms, which feature field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that allow for the implementation of low latency networks. These platforms also offer high interoperability and reconfigurability that can greatly benefit IIoT networks, especially since the technological advancements are rapidly progressing.

Chestnut offers a 4 receive and 4 transmit radio chain architecture, with each radio chain being independently controlled while maintaining phase coherency for applications requiring this functionality. Each radio chain offers 500 MHz of RF bandwidth, resulting in 2 GHz of RF bandwidth capture when all chains are enabled. The tuning range of near-DC to 9 GHz also allows these radio chains to be used for various applications that require wide operating frequencies.

Spectrum monitoring has become a critical activity for both commercial and defense applications.