Tactical Radio Books/Video Tutorials For Beginner

[MikeD_456]

Hello,

Sadly, I know absolutely nothing about tactical radios but would like to start a career involving them where I work on their internals over using them to communicate or listen to specific channels!

Background: I'm a software engineer who will be applying for my very first small company programming job involving tactical radios.

Question: Can you point me to a few good/intuitive books or tutorials to learn about tactical radios and their internal mechanisms? These items would have to be very easy to understand since I know nothing about them.

The computer languages and systems used by this unknown company are unimportant. I consider myself an expert at using them and using computers. The languages are C++, Java, and C#.

What tools would I use to develop code for tactical radios? Would I use Visual Studio 3015 or there better development tools? Visual Studio 2015 is a GUI that lets you write code, compile code, run the programs, and deploy the software to the device.

What C++/Java libraries will I be using to do my programming? Can you describe some of the typical things in the library? Do you have a tutorial on using them? How good are these tutorials?

Lastly, do you have any tips for me to land this ideal job? How should I t week my answers to any questions that you, yourself, would expect? What should I not say or talk about?

I have less than two weeks to prepare!

Thank you,
Michael D.

 

[speedway_navigator]

Tactical radios is a generic term, when I see that mentioned it's usually about military use.
If this job is military related it will probably be oriented towards SDR or software defined radios.

SDR involves using processors and software to perform what use to be done by mechanical devices for the lack of a better term; coils, capacitors and xtals that are / were used to tune specific frequencies or ranges.

In the good old days we took the cover off and used plastic tools to tune radios, now days software is used to adjust softpots as they are called, the PC version of a variable resistor.

 

[Linkero]

What tools would I use to develop code for tactical radios? Would I use Visual Studio 3015 or there better development tools? Visual Studio 2015 is a GUI that lets you write code, compile code, run the programs, and deploy the software to the device.

More than likely, you'll be using your preferred IDE. VS15 is great! I personally like Xamarin.

What C++/Java libraries will I be using to do my programming? Can you describe some of the typical things in the library? Do you have a tutorial on using them? How good are these tutorials?

The libraries will depend on the scope of work you're doing. You may be using libraries from the radio manufacturer, or libraries developed by the company. Additionally, there's plenty of libraries out there that can help with certain tasks. These are really questions you should be asking the employer, but as a programmer you're expected to be able to figure it out if they are provided. You probably won't be just thrown into the mix so you can expect some form of guidance from other programmers there. Besides, commented code is good code, so you can always just look there for help!

Lastly, do you have any tips for me to land this ideal job? How should I t week my answers to any questions that you, yourself, would expect? What should I not say or talk about?

Just as any job, make sure your resume is in order and bring extra copies. Have examples of your previous work ready in case they request it. Your profile says you have degrees, so remember to bring copies as well. The absolute most important thing, be honest and be confident. No one can really tell you what questions to expect, but they'll mainly pertain to your previous experience. I've had employers ask some curveball questions before tho. The questions will really depend on whom is interviewing you. If it's just an HR person, don't expect them to really question your intelligence unless they are a programmer themselves. If a senior developer is there as well, then you can expect some questions. If you don't know something, just tell them. They won't expect you to know everything being new to the field.

I have less than two weeks to prepare!

Don't sweat it and good luck!

 

[prcguy]

I'm mostly a hardware/RF guy with no software experience but did work on a very early military software defined radio program. Much of the hardware inside modern mil radios has been replaced with digital signal processing and you might be writing code for creating or modifying waveforms or other functions of the radio. You also have various communication buses inside the radio to select or change what is needed by the user and code drives that.

The computer folks I worked with wrote all the code to run the radio and created the waveforms for whatever modulation was needed. On one program the guys I worked with were writing code the SINCGARS waveform for the PSC-5 transceiver originally made by Magnavox and now by Raytheon.

Before working on a few mil radio programs, myself and my software buddies worked on other "stuff" and when nobody was buying that stuff any longer we all got spread out within the company and ended up on these radio programs with no specific training. The software guys were really talented and simply got instructions on what was needed and they went off writing code for a SINCGARS waveform with no prior knowledge of mil radios or what SINCGARS is. However, they were well versed on writing complex DSP code for other purposes and the transition to the radio program for them appeared easy from my uneducated point of view.

I suspect many of the people writing code at the company you are applying had never seen a military radio before being hired, so don't sweat that part. They will figure out if you have what they need and if your enthusiastic and ask questions in the interview that can only help.

Good luck.

Hello,

Sadly, I know absolutely nothing about tactical radios but would like to start a career involving them where I work on their internals over using them to communicate or listen to specific channels!

Background: I'm a software engineer who will be applying for my very first small company programming job involving tactical radios.

Question: Can you point me to a few good/intuitive books or tutorials to learn about tactical radios and their internal mechanisms? These items would have to be very easy to understand since I know nothing about them.

The computer languages and systems used by this unknown company are unimportant. I consider myself an expert at using them and using computers. The languages are C++, Java, and C#.

What tools would I use to develop code for tactical radios? Would I use Visual Studio 3015 or there better development tools? Visual Studio 2015 is a GUI that lets you write code, compile code, run the programs, and deploy the software to the device.

What C++/Java libraries will I be using to do my programming? Can you describe some of the typical things in the library? Do you have a tutorial on using them? How good are these tutorials?

Lastly, do you have any tips for me to land this ideal job? How should I t week my answers to any questions that you, yourself, would expect? What should I not say or talk about?

I have less than two weeks to prepare!

Thank you,
Michael D.

 

[krokus]

The type of tactical radios might make a difference. Military ground radios, often called "green gear" will have some differences to airborne or shipboard systems, as will the type of usage. Then there are the public safety tactical radios, for things like SWAT/SRT, confined space rescue, etc.

Which aspect of the radio will make a difference, possibly. The User Interface (UI) design will have different coding needs than designing the frequency hopping capable tuning controls.

As for the coding languages, I am hoping the last of the Ada source equipment has gone.

Keep in mind that anything that is going for most tactical settings is going to have limits on the distribution of information, and military equipment info is likely to be classified.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[ShawnInPaso]

As I rarely visit this sub-forum, please pardon me if my answers seem to diverge a bit from your original questions, just trying to help.

Sadly, I know absolutely nothing about tactical radios but would like to start a career involving them where I work on their internals over using them to communicate or listen to specific channels!

From my experience having put together a large contracts to purchase "tactical radios", using "tactical radios" and having been a programmer, most of your questions seem somewhat odd to me if you're preparing for an interview. Even a small company should have provided the basic requirements, and if your programming skills are the main requisite, and presuming you're a solid programmer, you should ace the interview. If the job requirements are unclear, I'd suggest asking for them in advance of the interview for requirements.

Background: I'm a software engineer who will be applying for my very first small company programming job involving tactical radios.


It's interesting you do not say "developing or revising code (or firmware) for tactical radios. I say this because "programming tactical radios" could literally mean plugging them into a PC interface and then assigning channel frequencies, PL tones and so forth. Hopefully you have clarity on this issue.


Question: Can you point me to a few good/intuitive books or tutorials to learn about tactical radios and their internal mechanisms? These items would have to be very easy to understand since I know nothing about them.

Back to my main point, if you are a programmer and schooled in computer science, the point of a radio being "tactical" should really be a very minor point if you know how to create customer requirements and iterate through them to assure your code meets their needs.

The computer languages and systems used by this unknown company are unimportant. I consider myself an expert at using them and using computers. The languages are C++, Java, and C#.

Your comment about the company languages and systems directly contradicts your next question. If you're an expert, as you say, then their development tools should be of no surprise to you. For example, perhaps at the interview the company guy asks about your knowledge of tools used to compile code used on an MCU? Maybe this is the type of issue you may be uncomfortable answering unless you have direct experience doing so?


What tools would I use to develop code for tactical radios? Would I use Visual Studio 3015 or there better development tools? Visual Studio 2015 is a GUI that lets you write code, compile code, run the programs, and deploy the software to the device.

Having done lots of IT hiring, I think the only way this would manifest at an interview is when they ask you what dev tools you have experience with? Of course the answer always includes, "I am a quick learner".

What C++/Java libraries will I be using to do my programming? Can you describe some of the typical things in the library? Do you have a tutorial on using them? How good are these tutorials?

Pardon me for being frank, but if you have to worry about this issue, then you have larger things to fret over.

Lastly, do you have any tips for me to land this ideal job? How should I t week my answers to any questions that you, yourself, would expect? What should I not say or talk about?

Presuming the "boss" is part of the interview team, s/he will want to know that you fit in, show up for work, are polite and easy to get along with. S/he will consider this to be 80% of the interview (unless it's a short term contract job), and the other 20% can be validated with your credentials and experience.

Lastly, as an aside, "tactical radios" typically refer to hand help radios used in the field (except as others noted above which would be the exception). Users of tactical radios want small, light weight radios that are easy to operate without having to "figure them out". They must always meet industry standards for working in any kind of weather, sufficient battery life to work thru long shifts, and can take the daily beating they will surely get.

Best of luck !