DRDO releases IRSA standard for military communication

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and the tri-services, formally released Indian Radio Software Architecture (IRSA) standard 1.0 to enable interoperability in military communication.

• IRSA is a comprehensive software specification for Software Defined Radios (SDR), defining standardised interfaces, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), execution environments, and waveform portability mechanisms.

• The IRSA initiative traces its origin to 2021, when the critical role of SDRs in modern military communication was highlighted and the need for a national software standard was felt.

• A core technical team led by DRDO initiated work in 2022, engaging with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and the three services to capture operational and user requirements.

• After extensive reviews and consultations with stakeholders, IRSA version 1.0 was approved and it became India's first national specification defining a standardised software architecture for Software Defined Radios.

• The launch of IRSA represents a defining step in India’s journey toward self-reliance in defence communication technologies, embodying the vision of building indigenous, interoperable, and future-ready SDR solutions.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)