Software defined radio (SDR) is an emerging form of radio architecture, which

encompasses a wide range of design techniques in order to realize a truly flexible,

and potentially future-proof, transceiver system. As a field, it is very broad, encompassing:

systems design, RF, IF, and baseband analogue hardware design, digital

hardware design, and software engineering. Covering all of these topics in sufficient

detail to become a design reference would be a huge task, therefore, this book

focuses on the former aspects of SDR, namely, systems design and RF, IF, and baseband

analogue hardware design. It also includes an introduction to some of the digital

hardware options for the baseband signal-processing element, although it does

not attempt to provide detailed design information in this area.

The emphasis on analogue hardware and digital conversion technologies stems

from the current reality that the antenna plus analogue-to-digital converter (ADC)

architecture often envisaged for future radio receivers (and similarly for the transmitter)

is far away from becoming a reality in the main cellular communications

bands. Indeed, there are some very significant challenges to overcome before this

could ever be considered a realistic architecture for cellular applications, and these

are highlighted in this book.