Introducing Adaptive, Aware, and Cognitive Radios

In the late 1990s, nearly all telecommunications radios were built using digital signal processor (DSP) processors to implement modulation and signal processing functions, and a General Purpose Processor (GPP) to implement operator interface, network signaling, and system overhead functions. This architecture is attractive to a manufacturer because the same basic electronics can be used over and over for each new radio design, thereby reducing engineering development, enabling volume purchasing, and optimizing production of a common platform, while retaining the flexibility for sophisticated waveforms and protocols. A few manufacturers called their radios “Software Defined Radios” (SDRs), recognizing the power and market attractiveness of the customer community being able to add additional functionality that is highly tuned to market specific applications.