Mark Frauenfelder brings us an overview of some of the benefits software-defined radio, or cognizant radio, can bring to wireless applications. Software-defined radio (SDR) promises to become, basically, a radio-on-a-chip that can be modified "on the fly" to operate on differing radio networks automatically, merely by running different lines of code on an intelligent wireless platform. Cellphones, PDAs, and wireless laptops could benefit from SDR.
Imagine a radio that can tune in to any frequency and run any wireless protocol adjusted by the function being performed. You could have a cellphone that makes cell calls then cuts over to Wi-Fi then to WiMax then to Bluetooth then to who-knows-what? - All in ONE chip built in to a device! The power savings and increased functionality of an all-in-one solution like this is mind-blowing.
1. True that will be really cool , the war over this will be if there is open source drivers provided so that people can build whatever they want on top of the device.
There are a very few wifi cards out there that let you anywhere near the hardware level with the drivers out there.
And all of those are linux as far as i know.
Well unless you have the drivers source.
Posted at 5:25AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Avery Roberts