Software-defined radios may be the answer to today’s interoperability issues, but carriers and handset makers do not seem overly enthused about adopting the technology because the technological advances gained from SDR may hurt their business models.
Why? Because SDR gives “too much flexibility to the user and both carriers and handset makers will not have control over their customers,” remarked Robert Sanchez, vice president and chief technology officer at inCode Telecom.
Indeed, some handset carriers already have SDR technology but are unwilling to implement it, an industry source close to the Software Defined Radio Forum told RCR Wireless News.
SDR recently hit a milestone for wide area networks when PicoChip Designs Ltd. recently announced the world’s first third-generation call using a software-defined base station. The 3GPP-compliant carrier class base station will support voice, data and video services and implement different technology standards on the same hardware, according to the company. In other words, the same base station could transmit a call via GSM, cdma2000, TD-SCDMA or 802.20 airlinks.
“We didn’t pay several billion for a license, so we can’t broadcast over the airwaves. But if we could, this base station could be used with 3G handsets available in the shops today,” said Doug Pulley, co-founder and chief technology officer at PicoChip.
SDR is already available in some base stations and was put into play in recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.AirNet Communications Corp. has rolled out about 18 SDR base stations already operational in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to Terry Williams, chief technical officer of the company. He explained that the base station is protocol-independent and can handle the activities of multiple carriers.
The technology allows the handset to roam from carrier to carrier. As such, carriers could lose potential revenues from their customers for services incurred on a competitor’s network.
However, a look at membership in the Software Defined Radio Forum reflects the importance of the technology. Siemens AG, Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Samsung Corp., Sprint PCS, SK Telecom, NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu Corp. belong to the SDR Forum and are active in efforts to standardize and develop the technology for commercial use.
Handset manufacturers also are shying away from the technology because of cost, power and antenna concerns. Advances in software-defined radios primarily come from the military. But military radios are more powerful than commercial handsets are intended to be. In addition, SDR antennas are geared for short frequency ranges.
Commercial handsets also do not have enough memory, processing speed and power to handle the technology today, said InCode’s Sanchez. “It’s like putting a PC onto a handset.”
Experts believe SDR technology will eliminate software glitches that many handset makers have encountered in rolling out UMTS handsets, according to Allan Margulies, chief operating officer of SDRF.
But again, the technological progress could hurt revenues. Handset makers could lose money from replacement sales since customers would not need new handsets to enjoy the latest services.
Companies like Morpho Technologies Inc. are working on chips that can handle the challenge of bringing SDR onto handsets.
But with its roots deep in the military, the armed forces and public-safety groups may embrace the technology before it is adopted by the commercial wireless industry.
Today the Army, Air Force and Navy use different telecommunications systems. Employing software-defined radios could enable the different service branches to talk to each other, said Bruce Fette, chief scientist at General Dynamics decision systems. SDR is designed to ensure that a combined combat operation can be executed with an Army soldier, Air Force pilot and Navy officer communicating in real time.
Although not fully developed, the technology was used in some form in the recent war in Iraq, according to Mark Turner, director of joint tactical radio system engineering at Harris Corp.
Both Turner and Fette explained that a standard and platform are yet to be determined, but several nations in Europe as well as the United States and Australia are working toward that. They said the U.S. military developed the Joint Tactical Radio System Joint Program Office to help create a common standard for the different armed forces.
The other beauty of this technology is ensuring interoperability in public-safety systems.
“County office, police, fire departments and other agencies including the FBI can communicate across systems,” said Margulies.
He said there are 70,000 public-safety organizations in the country and they use different radios.
Sanchez believes carriers and handset makers will embrace the technology once the protocols are established and military investments bring economies of scale.
The Federal Communications Commission released rules last year that allow software to be changed on screen, a step that sets the stage for the technology to grow.
