Will Software-Defined Radio Revolutionize Wireless and Launch New Uses?

  • Rather than a separate chip to communicate with cell phone towers, another for Wi-Fi base stations, a third for GPS signals, and a fourth for Bluetooth, software-defined radio hardware receives the raw electromagnetic signals and uses software to handle each frequency.
  • In theory, a single software-defined radio chip could perform the function of all these separate chips simultaneously, plus record FM radio and digital television signals, read RFID chips, track ship locations, or do radio astronomy.
  • “Software-defined radio will make it possible to use the electromagnetic spectrum in fundamentally new ways,” reports Ars Technica. “Most radio standards today are designed to use a fixed, narrow frequency band. In contrast, software-defined radio devices can tune into many different frequencies simultaneously, making possible communications schemes that wouldn’t be feasible with conventional radio gear.”
  • Per Vices co-founder, Victor Wollesen, whose company has developed a low-cost software-defined PCI Express card, one day sees a time when every home will have a similar radio device.
  • “We see our device being used as a center that’s able to take any sort of wireless signal, process, and re-package it. A universal router,” he explains. “Our device, by loading a piece of software on it can replace a router, a cell phone, a base station, or a garage door opener.”
  • More importantly, these devices will usher in a new era of wireless experimentation leading to innovative new uses such as spread spectrum approaches that make much more efficient use of the frequencies.

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