NEWS: Software Defined Radio (SDR)

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5382086.stm>

Wednesday, 27 September 2006

'Tower of Babel' technology nears

The problem of compatibility between wireless devices is being
addressed at an international conference this week.

Scientists will be discussing what has been dubbed "Tower of Babel"
technology - software that can converge different wireless gadgets
into a single device.

The aim for Software Defined Radio (SDR) is to be able to translate
and understand any kind of radio wave signal, such as 3G or wi-fi.

Researchers say SDR gadgets could become commonplace in five to 10
years.

[MORE]

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

John Navas wrote:
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5382086.stm>
>
> Wednesday, 27 September 2006
>
> 'Tower of Babel' technology nears
>
> The problem of compatibility between wireless devices is being
> addressed at an international conference this week.
>
> Scientists will be discussing what has been dubbed "Tower of Babel"
> technology - software that can converge different wireless gadgets
> into a single device.
>
> The aim for Software Defined Radio (SDR) is to be able to translate
> and understand any kind of radio wave signal, such as 3G or wi-fi.
>
> Researchers say SDR gadgets could become commonplace in five to 10
> years.

Old news...posted months ago carries were looking at a SDR deployment
within two years.

John Navas wrote:
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5382086.stm>
>
> Wednesday, 27 September 2006
>
> 'Tower of Babel' technology nears
>
> The problem of compatibility between wireless devices is being
> addressed at an international conference this week.
>
> Scientists will be discussing what has been dubbed "Tower of Babel"
> technology - software that can converge different wireless gadgets
> into a single device.
>
> The aim for Software Defined Radio (SDR) is to be able to translate
> and understand any kind of radio wave signal, such as 3G or wi-fi.
>
> Researchers say SDR gadgets could become commonplace in five to 10
> years.

I think the software defined antena is going to be the tricky bit :-)
unless theres some breakthough in nanotech we dont know about.

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>I think the software defined antena is going to be the tricky bit :-)
>unless theres some breakthough in nanotech we dont know about.

You must be an optimist. SDR is likely to generate a huge number of
proprietary (also known as optimized) protocols designed specifically
to lock a user into a specific wireless vendor. If changing the
protocol, encryption, profile, and features takes nothing more than a
firmware download, you can be sure all the cellular providers are
going to do it. Surely you didn't think they were interested in
providing a universal cell phone? SDR is a good idea, but not for
what you're expecting.

Also, the antenna seems to be somewhat of a challenge. The current
cell phone antennas might need to over 800MHz and 1900MHz. However,
add universal roaming, Wi-Fi, BlueGoof, WiMax, GPS, WirelessUSB, and
whatever the FCC will release next, and it needs to also work at
900MHz, 1800MHz, 2400Mhz, 2500Mhz, 1250Mhz, 5.7GHz. Ambitious
marketing folks will probably also want AM/FM/TV/FRS/GMRS and cordless
phone features. Maybe an iPod built in. Lots of antenna design fun.

There are also proximity and sharing issues. My XV6700 PDA phone has
both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I can see why Verizon disabled using
Bluetooth for listening to music. If I try to stream music from the
internet via Wi-Fi and listen to it via Bluetooth (after hacking the
registry), the music sounds like gargling ball bearings.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:29:41 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>There are also proximity and sharing issues. My XV6700 PDA phone has
>both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I can see why Verizon disabled using
>Bluetooth for listening to music. If I try to stream music from the
>internet via Wi-Fi and listen to it via Bluetooth (after hacking the
>registry), the music sounds like gargling ball bearings.

Crappy implementation. My notebook computer has no problem doing that.
And Wi-Fi shouldn't be an issue when playing stored music.

"Oops! Another feature doesn't work!"

"We don't have time to fix that too!"

"Should I just cripple it also?"

"Yep -- documentation is so bad our dummies, er customers, won't know
how to use it anyway!"

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:52:48 GMT, John Navas
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:29:41 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
><(E-Mail Removed)>:
>
>>There are also proximity and sharing issues. My XV6700 PDA phone has
>>both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I can see why Verizon disabled using
>>Bluetooth for listening to music. If I try to stream music from the
>>internet via Wi-Fi and listen to it via Bluetooth (after hacking the
>>registry), the music sounds like gargling ball bearings.

>Crappy implementation.

Worse. I forgot to mention that the XV6700 has Bluetooth 1.2 which
should have AFH (adaptive frequency hopping) which should prevent the
problem. However, I'm not sure if it's RF self-interference or the
CPU running out of horsepower that's causing the problem. It could
also be my Plantronics BT-3000 headset. Oops, the BT-3000 is only
Bluetooth 1.1. I'll try it with a BT 1.2 or 2.0 headset.

>My notebook computer has no problem doing that.
>And Wi-Fi shouldn't be an issue when playing stored music.

Your notebook also doesn't try to share the same antenna with
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I think (not sure) the XV6700 does. Checking:
| <https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout =500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=609145&fcc_i d='NM8PA10A'>
Sigh. The internal photos PDF appears to be fatally damaged.
However, there are some internal photos mixed in with the external
photos. Looks like 3 separate antennas for CDMA, BT, and WiFi.
| <https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=557710&native_or_pdf=pd f>
See page 6 of 9.

However, it appears that they changed to a different antenna in a
later version:
| <https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=576542&native_or_pdf=pd f>
I can't see the WiFi antenna so I'll guess(tm) that it's a common BT
and WiFi antenna.

>"Oops! Another feature doesn't work!"

Features and functions get added faster than bugs get fixed. The
inevitable result is a bloated buggy mess.

>"We don't have time to fix that too!"

Customer tested quality?

>"Should I just cripple it also?"

Of course. Call it an undocumented feature or "wireless streaming
media ready".

>"Yep -- documentation is so bad our dummies, er customers, won't know
>how to use it anyway!"

I think you saw the web page I scribbled just for setting up the
XV6700. It was a messy ordeal, even with the documentation. The
supplied documentation was tolerable, but for the previous firmware
version. I had to update from bits and pieces from all over the
internet. I don't think a non-geek could do it successfully.

If it were too easy, it would be no fun.
If the product were any good, it wouldn't need documentation.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 (E-Mail Removed)
# http://802.11junk.com (E-Mail Removed)
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS