Software Defined Radio: Baseband Technologies for 3G Handsets and Basestations

Introduction

Walter Tuttlebee

Mobile VCE, Basingstoke, UK

‘Software radio is arriving by stealth…’

Software Defined Radio – are you a sceptic or a believer? If you were a total sceptic you would not be wasting your time reading this introduction. However, many are. I am frequently asked for my views on when software radio ‘will arrive’. Perhaps the most interesting answer I heard someone give to this question over the past year was ‘software radio is arriving by stealth’. As you read the chapters of this book, you may find yourself concluding that perhaps this is, in fact, a very apposite observation.

3G as the Driver for SDR?

Baseband signal processing technology is experiencing a period of radical change, for both handset and basestation applications, with 3G emerging as the major driver. To some, given the downturn that the industry has seen over the past two years, this may seem strange. Ironically, the network roll-out delays and the uncertainties created by the downturn are the very factors that have created fresh opportunity for those developing SDR technologies. The delays have allowed more time for technologies to mature whilst the climate of uncertainty over service take-up has created a demand for flexible solutions able to accommodate varying traffic mixes and unknown future applications.

In the mid to late 1990s, amidst the early hype of software radio, the initial market for SDR was seen by many as being North America, where the diversity of 2G air interfaces was ...