Software-defined radio: a brief overview

TLDR

Software‑defined radio (SDR) is a wireless communication paradigm where both transmitter modulation and receiver signal recovery are performed by software, enabling flexible, programmable transceivers that have become a cornerstone of modern GSM and are widely recognized across academia, industry, and regulatory bodies. The paper aims to review SDR and its primary goal of replacing analog and hardwired digital components in transceivers with programmable software‑defined elements. SDR achieves this by replacing analog and hardwired digital components with programmable devices, and its development is coordinated by the SDR Forum, an international nonprofit comprising academia, industry, military, and regulatory stakeholders.

Abstract

This paper overviews the software-defined radio (SDR), also called software radio (SR), refers to wireless communication in which the transmitter modulation is generated or defined by a computer. The receiver then also uses a computer to recover the signal intelligence. SDR is an enabling technology that is useful in a wide range of areas within wireless systems. The primary goal of SDR is to replace as many analog components and hardwired digital VLSI devices of the transceiver as possible with programmable devices. This technology is receiving enormous recognition and generating widespread interest in the telecommunication industry. The SDR Forum is an international, nonprofit organization that includes members from academia, the military, vendors, wireless service providers, and regulatory bodies. SDR has been described as the cornerstone in the evolution of GSM.