Software Defined Radio: Architectures, Systems and Functions

Introduction

For a Software Defined Radio (SDR) system to be useful as an adaptable future-proof solution, and to cover both existing and emerging standards, it is required to have elements of reconfigurability, intelligence and software programmable hardware. In addition, the emerging user requirements on reconfigurable mobile systems and networks are paving the way for the introduction of reconfigurability in future mobile systems.

This book deals with reconfigurability aspects in various layers on the network and terminal, as well as the introduction of reconfigurability management middleware and protocol adaptability mechanisms, which have become key factors for the support of flexible and adaptable service provision to mobile users.

Chapter 1 describes the reconfigurable systems in a heterogeneous environment. The traditional SDR concept introduces flexible terminal reconfiguration by replacing radios completely implemented in hardware by ones that are configurable or even programmable in software to a large extent. These concepts include reconfiguration of the antenna, the radio transceiver and the baseband. Recently, the concept of terminal reconfiguration has been extended and now includes reconfiguration of applications and services, as well as network-based reconfiguration support, provided by a dedicated network infrastructure. The reason for this development is that applications and services are likely to be affected by changing transmission quality and changing Quality ...