The software defined radio: Fact and fiction

In comparison to legacy systems that are typically tailored to provide a narrow range of capabilities through hardware, the next generation software defined radios are intended to implement a broader range of capabilities through elements that are software configurable. This offers the user the promise of greater flexibility, by being able to run more than one legacy waveform on a single platform, as well as a growth path to more and greater capability, such as mobile ad hoc networking. This presentation will examine the key architectural differences between software defined, and hardware defined radios, and will highlight some of the key challenges that must be addressed in fielding a software defined radio.