Software Radio

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview on rapidly growing technology in the radio domain which overcomes the drawbacks suffered by the conventional analog radio. This is the age of Software radio – the technology which tries to transform the hardware radio transceivers into smart programmable devices which can fit into various devices available in today’s rapidly evolving wireless communication industry. This new technology has some or the entire physical layer functions software defined. All of the waveform processing, including the physical layer, of a wireless device moves into the software. An ideal Software Radio provides improved device flexibility, software portability, and reduced development costs. This paper tries to get into the details of all this. It takes one through a brief history of conventional radios, analyzes the drawbacks and then focuses on the Software radio in overcoming these short comings.