• What is Software Defined Radio?
• What benefits does SDR provide?
• How does SDR achieve these benefits?
• How does the Forum define SDR?
• Are SDR devices already being used in the wireless industry?
• When will more widespread adoption of SDR happen?
• What is the purpose of the SDR Forum?
• Are there other industry groups addressing SDR related issues?

What is Software Defined Radio?

Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a collection of hardware and software technologies that enable reconfigurable system architectures for wireless networks and user terminals. SDR provides an efficient and comparatively inexpensive solution to the problem of building multi-mode, multi-band, multi-functional wireless devices that can be enhanced using software upgrades. As such, SDR can really be considered an enabling technology that is applicable across a wide range of areas within the wireless industry.

SDR-enabled devices (e.g., handhelds) and equipment (e.g., wireless network infrastructure) can be dynamically programmed in software to reconfigure the characteristics of equipment. In other words, the same piece of "hardware" can be modified to perform different functions at different times. This allows manufacturers to concentrate development efforts on a common hardware platform. Similarly, it permits network operators to differentiate their service offerings without having to support a myriad number of handhelds. Finally, SDR provides the user with a single piece of scalable hardware that is at once compatible at a global scale and robust enough to deliver a "pay as you go" feature set.

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What benefits does SDR provide?

Radios built using SDR concepts offer:

• Standard architecture for a wide range of communications products
• Non-restrictive wireless roaming for consumers by extending the capabilities of current and emerging commercial air-interface standards
• Uniform communication across commercial, civil, federal and military organizations
• Potential for significant life-cycle cost reductions
• Over the air downloads of new features and services as well as software patches
• Advanced networking capabilities to allow truly "portable" networks

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How does SDR achieve these benefits?

SDR-enabled devices (handhelds) and equipment (network) can be dynamically programmed in software to reconfigure the characteristics of the hardware. This is achieved through the use of a set of clearly defined APIs residing on top of a flexible hardware layer.

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How does the Forum define SDR?

The Forum definitions of the term SDR is described in detail in the document titled "Software Defined Radio Semantics" - see the Technical Committee section of the home page. To ensure a common view of the term "SDR", we have defined it using tiers to describe the various capabilities. Each tier refers to a higher level of capability & flexibility described by its name.

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Are SDR devices already being used in the wireless industry?

SDR is already being employed in some cellular and PCS base station products, as well as in military and aerospace equipment, and is expected soon to be utilized extensively in user terminals. However, designers of wireless devices have not yet taken full advantage of the flexibility and in-situ adaptability that can be achieved in the near future. To date, manufacturers have exploited SDR to reduce the number of different product platforms that they must develop and support, and to enable product architectures that can be systematically scaled to incorporate new and evolving capabilities.

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When will more widespread adoption of SDR happen?

Beginning in 2001, the SDR Forum expects to see increased commercial, civil, and military use of SDR, driven by the development and initial deployment of third generation commercial wireless systems and the need for multi-service capabilities in civil and military markets. By 2005, SDR is expected to have been adopted by many manufacturers as their core platform.

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What is the purpose of the SDR Forum?

The SDR Forum is an international industry association of 100+ organizations committed to enabling the wireless Internet and advanced capabilities for civil and military systems. The Forum is dedicated to promoting the development, deployment and use of software defined radio for advanced wireless systems. To that end, the Forum promotes the development of global standards for SDR technologies for use in modules, products and network systems in conjunction with existing commercial standards for wireless networks.

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Are there other industry groups addressing SDR related issues?

The SDR Forum has established formal liaison activities with other industry groups, such as the 3GPP Mobile Station Application Execution Environment (MExE) working group (www.3gpp.org), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE (www.ieee.org) and the OMA - The Open Mobile Alliance Ltd. (www.openmobilealliance.org) to address the above security issues. Electronic encryption techniques already being assessed by MExE and WAP for mobile e-commerce transactions and other secure mobile services are expected to be robust enough to provide the necessary security for SDR.

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