Evaluation of Software Defined Radio Technology

The report documents the researchers' findings and opinions; it does not reflect official position of their companies or organisations. This report has been prepared for Ofcom as part of a study into Software Defined Radio (SDR). The study evaluates the impact of this technology on the spectral efficiency of future communication systems. The primary requirement was to investigate the potential gains in spectrum efficiency that SDR technology may offer. These gains may come at the cost of technological complexity or regulatory implications. Based on a comprehensive literature survey, the study highlights the main application areas for SDR Technology. This includes: • equipment sharing for and between different Radio Access Technologies (RATs), • enabling of Spectrum trading and Spectrum borrowing through SDR Technology, • separation of the classical combination of Service, RAT and Frequency Band, to enable service use and provision across different air interface technologies and frequency bands. Implementation of each application area raises demands towards regulation; these include matters of equipment use and circulation as well as spectrum use and access. Identification of these regulatory limitations and impacts as well as of approaches to solve some of these limitations are part of this work. A set of recommendations of how limitations and restrictions may be overcome has been developed and is documented in this report. SDR Technology has been on the research agenda for more than 20 years. During this period both the original intended use, as well as the associated implications, have changed. The basic idea of SDR Technology is to allow the functionality of communication devices to be similar to that of personal computers. Such SDR based device architecture will allow the programming of different communication modes and RATs on one device platform. When strictly following this principle, SDR Technology mainly reduces the number of communication platforms required but it does not introduce new system functionality. Hence it can be seen as an enabler rather than as complete system technology. If SDR technology is properly applied, it will facilitate this single platform design, and will also provide a path towards the realisation of concepts such as reconfigurability, run-time reconfiguration, and eventually self-governed learning (cognitive) radio. These technologies can be very useful in enabling new application areas such as dynamic handling of spectrum and radio resources. There are many R&D programmes and initiatives investigating Evaluation of SDR Technology Executive Summary February 2006 ii possibilities for SDR system architectures …