Software radio structure for second generation mobile communication systems

Third generation mobile communication systems like the European UMTS will enable a flexible communication, free from standard specific regulation of modulation, channel coding, baud rate and multiple access schemes. This flexibility can only be reached by a radio structure which performs all baseband functions in software and is therefore totally software programmable. To ensure that different software configurations can be understood and supported by all mobile terminal architectures a general programming language is required to describe the used air interface components. By the example of the second generation mobile communication systems like the European GSM, the Japanese PDC, the American IS-54 (respectively IS-136) and the European wireless communications system DECT, a common description and implementation of the transceiver functions like channel coding, modulation and equalisation have been developed.