Software Defined Radio

In a software defined radio (SDR), functions that were formerly carried out solely in hardware such as the generation of the transmitted signal and the tuning and detection of the received radio signal, are performed by software that controls high-speed signal processors. Because of the ability to be easily reprogrammed, a software defined radio could be programmed easily to operate over a broad range of frequencies, bandwidths and transmission standards.

This reprogramming capability could allow a single device to transmit in the various cellular and broadcast services, worldwide.