Reconfiguration issues of future mobile software radio platforms

The evolution in the semiconductor industry leading to constant increase in the clock speeds and increase in device density and the advent of reconfigurable hardware have paved the way to the creation of a new generation of very agile reprogrammable communication systems generically known as Software Radio (SR) platforms. SR uses a mix of fixed and programmable and/or reconfigurable hardware entities for the implementation of radio transceiver functions capable of commanding the RF (Radio Frequency) spectrum used for wireless communications. While many articles have addressed the general architecture and features of such platforms, the literature on the mechanics of reconfiguring such units is rather scarce. This paper addresses the issue of reconfigurability for the SR platform. We look at a variety of techniques that may be employed to reconfigure the SR platform, list advantages and disadvantages of each, and address some of the questions that arise in the context of standardization efforts that may be needed to render such units truly universal in scope and in application.