Ref: New radio technology allows for configuration adaptation through software instead of hardware

| 08.23.2007 | 10:21:225590 |

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Emerging technology: Will software-defined radio shake up communications?

Many see SDR (software defined radio) technology as a solution to the limitations of mobile hardware. SDR handsets for the consumer market may be a few years away, but they're about ready for the commercial sector.
By Drew Wilson, Contributing Writer -- Electronic Business, 8/21/2007
Mobile gear isn't keeping pace with galloping wireless technology. Consider the following factors:

Expensive obsolescence is an issue. In the shift to 3G, for example, most 2G and 2.5G handsets and base stations will eventually end up as junk.
Convergence also creates problems. Radio frequencies and handset features are increasing as convergence to the multifunction device continues. Each time something is added, the handset needs more components and circuitry, raising battery-power requirements and bill-of-materials costs.
The compact mobile phone also has little room to cram in more stuff.
One potential answer is SDR (software-defined-radio) technology, a concept that is as elegant as it is disruptive.

With SDR, software replaces the controlling hardware and new standards or frequencies are added through software upgrades. So if a GSM handset wants to work with WiMAX, for example, a piece of downloaded software enables it.

"An SDR handset adopts on-the-fly to any specific frequency band within a wide range of frequencies," says Oleg Panfilov, chief science officer for Terocelo, developer of software-controlled wireless chips that enable SDR.

Multiband mobile phones exist today, but they use hardware to process different signals. SDR uses an analog-to-digital converter to change signals into a digital format so the handset software can process it.

"What you get is a communications computer," Panfilov says. "The system is capable of converting signals from the antenna to digital form and the [handset] becomes independent of frequency bands."

Using SDR technology, the same mobile phone could work across any geographic area worldwide, with any standard or frequency. In its ideal form, an SDR handset would access any radio signal floating in the air – GSM, walkie-talkies, Bluetooth, HAM radio, TV programs, cordless phones, radio, Internet and remote control toys, to name a few.

Only one gadget, perhaps best called a "universal communication device," will do the job of all RF gadgets. In addition, operability and functionality could be downloaded as needed.

"[SDR] is like Esperanto for radio communications," Panfilov says.

Early adopters: rescue services

SDR handsets are coming. The military and emergency services grasped the benefits and have been driving the technology. In Europe, the European Defense Agency has provided €100 million euros ($130 million) for a five-country joint research project aimed at enhancing SDR.

Rescue services are expected to be early adopters. In a disaster, when tight coordination is essential, one device could communicate with a police radio, with first responders using walkie-talkies or with GSM cellphones.

The military has also recognized the need for cutting across the mess of standards for efficient cross-branch communication between multicountry forces. Already some military handsets are software reprogrammable between a couple different standards.

Europe's space technology company, EADS Astrium Ltd, has developed an SDR-related military communicator for the UK's secure military satellite communications, says Chris Anstey, business development manager for military communications systems at EADS Astrium in Stevenage, UK.

"We have delivered more than 300 multichannel units to military programs and a small number of single channel equipment to a US satellite program," Anstey says.

EADS is in the process of developing dual-use handsets that would include commercial use, he adds.

On the cellular infrastructure side, commercial SDR adoption has already started. Vanu, a Cambridge, MA startup that develops SDR technology for base stations, already has several customers in North America, says Vanu Bose, CEO and founder.

The SDR cost argument has been persuasive. When operators build cellular networks, he explains, they have to erect base stations across a wide coverage geography. Each time a new standard is adopted, operators using traditional non-SDR equipment have to install new hardware.

Upgrades are expensive. When AT&T Wireless upgraded from TDMA to GSM, it spent $10 billion, according to Bose.

Using SDR, base stations need only a software adjustment to handle a new standard, saving considerable expense. "Buy the hardware once and you don't have to buy it again," Bose says.

SDR technology can't be put into the legacy base station infrastructure, which is the bulk of the world's equipment. Less than 20% of all installed base station infrastructure today is multistandard, says Guillaume d'Eyssautier, CEO of PicoChip, a developer of components for software-upgradeable base stations.

Aside from handsets and infrastructure, SDR is also expected to find opportunity in the high-volume consumer device and automotive markets, as well as femtocells, which are software-configurable 3G base stations for the home. PicoChip, for example, also develops technology for femtocells.

SDR challenges

There are still issues that need to be resolved. For example, SDR is software that works together with a piece of silicon that reconfigures itself as needed. A debate is ongoing about which silicon should be used: FPGA or DSP.

Another bottleneck is the business model. Bose explains that US mobile operators only certify certain devices to be used on their network because they subsidize the devices. Some carriers may not want a multistandard handset to connect to their network.

But from the technical side, a handset is feasible today, Bose says. His company has made SDR handset prototypes. "The problem is battery life because SDR is power hungry," Bose says.

Battery power is one reason why the military and rescue services will get SDR communications early. They're used to transporting bigger radios with bigger batteries.

As battery technology and low-power devices evolve and hit the right price point, the consumer SDR-based handset will catch fire, sources agree.

"Realistically, SDR handsets are five years away," Bose says.

An ancillary feature of SDR is cognitive radio technology, which is also on the horizon. Cognitive radio uses a sensor that scans the environment and shifts, on-the-fly, to the frequency band with the least interference, says Panfilov of Terocelo, which develops chips that provide a foundation for cognitive radio.


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