Software defined radio (SDR) is one of the most important topics of research, and indeed development, in the area of mobile and personal communication. SDR is viewed as an enabler of global roaming and as a unique platform for the rapid introduction of new services into existing live networks. It therefore promises mobile communication networks a major increase in flexibility and capability. SDR brings together two key technologies of the last decade - digital radio and downloadable software. It encompasses not only reconfiguration of the air interface parameters of handset and basestation products but also the whole mobile network, to facilitate the dynamic introduction of new functionality and mass-customised applications to the user's terminal,post-purchase.

In particular it explores

• the unique demands of SDR upon the RF subsystem and their implications for front end design methodologies

• the recent concepts of the 'digital front end' and 'parametrization'

• the role and key influence of data conversion technologies and devices within software radio, essential to robust product design

• the evolution of signal processing technologies, describing new architectural approaches

• management of terminal reconfiguration and its network implications

• the concepts of the waveform description language

• potential breakthrough technologies, such as superconducting RSFQ technology and the possible future role of MEMS in RF circuitry

• competing approaches, eg all-software radios implemented on commodity computing vs advanced processing architectures that dynamically optimise their configuration to match the algorithm requirements at a point in time

Suitable for today's engineers, technical staff and researchers within the wireless industry, the book will also appeal to marketing and commercial managers who need to understand the basics and potential of the technology for future product development. Its balance of industrial and academic contributors also makes it suitable as a text for graduate and postgraduate courses aiming to prepare the next generation of wireless engineers.

Contributed by internationally respected industry practitioners and researchers this book provides a holistic treatement of SDR addressing the full breadth of relevant technologies - radio frequqncy design, data conversion, reconfigurable signal processing hardware, and software issues at all levelsof the protocol stack and network. As such it provides a solid grounding for a new generation of wireless engineers for whom radio design in the future will assume dynamic flexibility as a given.

Over the past few years software radio has transitioned from an esoteric academic idea to a rapidly commercialising technology that in the coming decade will revolutionise the mobile telecommunications marketplace. Written for industry professionals in engineering and commercial roles, as well as those in academia and research, this book will provide a comprehensive context for all those already active in or entering the field.

Walter Tuttlebee, himself a pioneer of software radio in Europe, has gathered contributions from many of the acknowledged world experts in software radio -leaders operating at the heart of the software radio world today - who share their experience and insight into the background, the present and the future evolution of the technology and the industry. Contributions from North America, Europe and Asia ensure a comprehensive overview of the global SDR scene. The structured approach ensures that the book comprehensively addresses the key issues in the title - the origins of software radio, what has been (and is) driving its commercialisation and what is happening on the international scene

The book includes:

• a comprehensive review of the origins of software radio in the defence industry
• an insider's view of the origins, evolution, role and activities of the SDR Forum
• a summary of the MIT Sloan study into the drivers of global success in the mobile wireless marketplace
• a review of end user and mobile network operator perspectives of software radio and what the value it can offer
• insiders' summaries of recent SDR research activities in Europe and Japan
• coverage of the regulatory issues associated with SDR and the current approaches being taken in North America and Europe, with contributions from the regulators themselves
• a description of the first steps to SDR standards - the ETSI MExE standard
• descriptions of some of the first commercial software defined radio products, for both defence and commercial applications

Endorsed with a foreword from Joseph Mitola III, 'the father of software radio'