Putting the software radio on a low-calorie diet

Abstract

Modern software-defined radios are large, expensive, and power-hungry devices and this, we argue, hampers their more widespread deployment and use, particularly in low-power, size-constrained application settings like mobile phones and sensor networks. To rectify this problem, we propose to put the software-defined radio on a diet by redesigning it around just two core chips -- an integrated RF transceiver and a Flash-based, mixed-signal FPGA. Modern transceivers integrate almost all RF front-end functions while emerging FPGAs integrate nearly all of required signal conditioning and processing functions. And, unlike conventional FPGAs, Flash-based FPGAs offer sleep mode power draws measured in the microamps and startup times measured in the microseconds, both of which are critical for low-power operation. If our platform architecture vision is realized, it will be possible to hold a software-defined radio in the palm of one's hand, build it for $100, and power it for days using the energy in a typical mobile phone battery. This will make software radios deployable in high densities and broadly accessible for research and education.