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Trade Study of Implementation of Software Defined Radio (SDR): Fundamental Limitations and Future Prospects.

ADA491778

Publication Date	2008
Personal Author	Bostian, C. W.; Reed, J. H.; Nealy, J. R.; Ge, F.; Mays, J.
Page Count	124
Abstract	Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology is commonly advocated for waveform and frequency-agile radios. It works well for simple signals and limited bandwidths, less so for complex broadband waveforms. Whether these difficulties reflect theoretical limits or design choices was unknown since few quantified limits exist. Using literature surveys and analysis this report explores fundamental limits to SDR bandwidth and waveform complexity, design trade-offs, closeness of current technology to these limits, and future trends. For fixed front ends, SDR bandwidth is limited by analog-to-digital converter (ADC) bandwidth, dynamic range, and aperture jitter. The last dominates ADC fabrication limitations and GSM-like dynamic range for 2.5 GHz digitized bandwidths is theoretically impossible - not a fabrication limitation. Flexible front-ends are important as 2nd-order products limit practical instantaneous bandwidth to less than an octave. Increasing parallelism should improve processor performance until 2025, reaching a limit of 15 nanowatts per million multiply-and-accumulate operations per second. Multicore processors will alleviate latency.
Keywords	Software tools Radio transmission Trade off analysis Radio equipment Analog to digital converters Frequency agility Bandwidth Waveforms Digital systems Signal processing Architecture Trade studies Sdr(Software defined radio) Radio frequency design Radio frequency systems Radio architecture Digital signal processors Digital execution latency Adc(Analog-to-digital converter)
Source Agency	Non Paid ADAS
NTIS Subject Category	62B - Computer Software 45C - Common Carrier & Satellite
Corporate Authors	Wireless Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
Supplemental Notes	Prepared in cooperation with Cognitive Radio Technologies, LLC, Lynchburg, VA. The original document contains color images.
Document Type	Technical Report
Title Note	Final rept. 9 Nov 2007-9 Sep 2008.
NTIS Issue Number	200910
Contract Number	W31P4Q-07-C-0210

Trade Study of Implementation of Software Defined Radio (SDR): Fundamental Limitations and Future Prospects.

Trade Study of Implementation of Software Defined Radio (SDR): Fundamental Limitations and Future Prospects.
ADA491778

Publication Date	2008
Personal Author	Bostian, C. W.; Reed, J. H.; Nealy, J. R.; Ge, F.; Mays, J.
Page Count	124
Abstract	Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology is commonly advocated for waveform and frequency-agile radios. It works well for simple signals and limited bandwidths, less so for complex broadband waveforms. Whether these difficulties reflect theoretical limits or design choices was unknown since few quantified limits exist. Using literature surveys and analysis this report explores fundamental limits to SDR bandwidth and waveform complexity, design trade-offs, closeness of current technology to these limits, and future trends. For fixed front ends, SDR bandwidth is limited by analog-to-digital converter (ADC) bandwidth, dynamic range, and aperture jitter. The last dominates ADC fabrication limitations and GSM-like dynamic range for 2.5 GHz digitized bandwidths is theoretically impossible - not a fabrication limitation. Flexible front-ends are important as 2nd-order products limit practical instantaneous bandwidth to less than an octave. Increasing parallelism should improve processor performance until 2025, reaching a limit of 15 nanowatts per million multiply-and-accumulate operations per second. Multicore processors will alleviate latency.
Keywords	Software tools Radio transmission Trade off analysis Radio equipment Analog to digital converters Frequency agility Bandwidth Waveforms Digital systems Signal processing Architecture Trade studies Sdr(Software defined radio) Radio frequency design Radio frequency systems Radio architecture Digital signal processors Digital execution latency Adc(Analog-to-digital converter)
Source Agency	Non Paid ADAS
NTIS Subject Category	62B - Computer Software 45C - Common Carrier & Satellite
Corporate Authors	Wireless Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
Supplemental Notes	Prepared in cooperation with Cognitive Radio Technologies, LLC, Lynchburg, VA. The original document contains color images.
Document Type	Technical Report
Title Note	Final rept. 9 Nov 2007-9 Sep 2008.
NTIS Issue Number	200910
Contract Number	W31P4Q-07-C-0210