SDR, The Cure or the Curse

No matter how hard we try, the tower of Babel will not go away. We continue to have multiple air link technologies, and dissimilar discontinuous spectrum. The only elegant near-term solution is the SDR approach, which promises to offer flexibility not achievable with hardware approaches.

The potential to reconfigure radio attributes offers great hope and promise in the commercial sector. Not only would it allow opportunities for ease of spectrum access through multi-mode/multi-band operation, but it can possibly enhance the user experience through variable preference selection.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

METHODOLOGY

OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION

JUST WHAT IS SDR?

Transmitter Functionality

Receiver Functionality

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?

WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES?

PROBABLE SDR CONFIGURATION

POTENTIAL SDR DEPLOYMENT TIMETABLE

HANDSET OR BASE STATION?

TIMING ISSUES

MODIFICATION ISSUES

ON THE COMPONENT SIDE OF THE TRACKS

SUMMARY

ACRONYMS USED IN THIS REPORT

List of Tables

Table 1: SDR Base Station Forecast 3

Table 2: SDR Handset Forecast 3

List of Figures

Figure 1: Traditional Base Station

Figure 2: Software-Defined Base Station

Figure 3: 3G Wireless Infrastructure

Figure 4: SDR Radio Architecture

Figure 5: Technology Deployment Timetable

Figure 6: Radioscape ADC and Control Signal Interface