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Software-Defined Radio Could Unify Wireless World

Posted by Zonk on from the cool-if-it-works dept.

mjdroner writes "Technicians in Ireland are testing a device capable of skipping between incompatible wireless standards by tweaking its underlying code. The article states: 'The device can impersonate a multitude of different wireless devices since it uses reconfigurable software to carry out the tasks normally performed by static hardware. The technology promises to let future gadgets jump between frequencies and standards that currently conflict. A cellphone could, for example, automatically detect and jump to a much faster Wi-Fi network when in a local hotspot.'"

3 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A plug for GNU Radio by evilviper · · Score: 4, Interesting
    To really get started on SDR, check out the Ten-Tec RX320D shortwave receiver. It outputs a 12 kHz-wide IF signal from the front end to an audio jack, which can then be fed to a PC soundcard.

    Why spend that much ($350+), when you can order a dirt-cheap shortwave radio for maybe $40 and just use a simple 455 kHz to 12 kHz adaptor?

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  2. Cognitive radio-SDR by slashdotmsiriv · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cognitive radio is a concept very related to this discussion. I googled a little about SDR and cognitive radio and came across some interesting paragraphs. Short Definition of SDR: Software defined radios are making it possible to change waveform properties and applications while operating in the field via the addition or upgrade of software. For SDRs, reprogramming or upgrading a single radio or a radio network takes about as much effort as upgrading a computer's operating system or program options. US Army interest : For its part, the U.S. Navy is likely to be the largest consumer of software defined radios with the military's Joint Tactical Radio System Initiative (JTRS) radios following closely behind. For the Navy, the software-based Digital Modular Radio (DMR) is replacing a roomful of radios with a single rack of DMRs. The DMR is a four-channel, full-duplex system that is essentially four radios in one. Currently operating on submarines and surface ships around the world, the DMR (AN/USC-61) is successfully demonstrating the viability of software defined radios on active duty. Cognitive radio: The cognitive radio, as its name implies, builds on Software-defined radio to carry a level of cognition or intelligence that permits decision-making and learned patterns of behavior. According to IEEE, the cognitive radio is a radio transmitter/receiver that is designed to intelligently detect whether a particular segment of the radio spectrum is currently in use and to jump into (or out of) the temporarily-unused spectrum very rapidly without interfering with the transmissions of other users.

  3. You assume I'd want to go WiFi by scotty1024 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here in Seattle I've often found my Verizon EVDO is faster than T-Mobile's Starbucks or Border's WiFi hot spots.

    And what if I'm on the bus traveling down the street: 3G, WiFi, 2.5G, WiFi...

    The decision to switch from 3G to WiFi will have to be made on more complex criteria than simply "Oh look WiFi!!"

    Right now my Tablet PC can't even handle going "Hey Wifi!" reliably, although Mac's do it quite well.

    And I can't even begin to picture how one would handle a TCP hand off with out using IPv6. RIght now Verizon and CIngular both suck at handing off seamlessly from 3G to 2.5G and back to 3G when running around in a bus on their own networks (where they have control over IP addresses' and routing).

    I submit that these issues push things further out than you think to achieve your utopia.