|
Abstract:
|
The application of adaptive antenna techniques to fixed-architecture base stations has been shown to offer wide-ranging benefits, including interference rejection capabilities or increased coverage and spectral efficiency.
Unfortunately, the actual implementation of
these techniques to mobile communication scenarios has traditionally been set back by two fundamental reasons. On one hand, the lack of flexibility of current transceiver architectures does not allow for the introduction of advanced add-on functionalities. On the other hand, the
often oversimplified models for the spatiotemporal characteristics of the radio communications channel generally give rise to
performance predictions that are, in practice, too optimistic. The advent of software radio architectures represents a big step toward the
introduction of advanced receive/transmit
capabilities. Thanks to their inherent flexibility
and robustness, software radio architectures
are the appropriate enabling technology for the
implementation of array processing techniques.
Moreover, given the exponential progression of
communication standards in coexistence and
their constant evolution, software reconfigurability
will probably soon become the only costefficient
alternative for the transceiver
upgrade. This article analyzes the requirements
for the introduction of software radio techniques
and array processing architectures in
multistandard scenarios. It basically summarizes
the conclusions and results obtained within
the ACTS project SUNBEAM,1 proposing
algorithms and analyzing the feasibility of
implementation of innovative and softwarereconfigurable
array processing architectures in
multistandard settings. |
