Reconfigurable radio access technology: between myth and reality

An overview of software radio and reconfigurable radio is given, with a special emphasis on results from EU-funded projects. The state-of-the art in reconfigurable radio is presented, detailing architectures providing reconfigurability for networks and services. The allsoftware approach for reconfigurable network elements and terminals is described. Finally, the Eurecom software radio platform is presented as well as the design flow for implementing reconfigurable air-interfaces. The evolution toward reconfigurable terminal architectures targeted at SoC/SoPC(System-on-a-Chip/System-on-a-Programmable -Chip) architectures is outlined.