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The SpectrumWare approach to wireless signal processing

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Abstract

The SpectrumWare project is applying a software oriented approach to wireless communication and distributed signal processing. Advances in processor and analog-to-digital conversion technology have made it possible to implementvirtual radios that directly sample wide bands of the RF spectrum and process these samples in application software. The elimination of dedicated hardware introduces tremendous flexibility into a wireless communication system. Our approach goes further than the software implementation of traditional signal processing functions. We use processor and network memory to temporally decouple the sample streams from the software modules so that the bulk of the processing can be realized within virtual time programming environments. Decoupling relaxes the temporal constraints on the processing algorithms and their execution. This paper describes the SpectrumWare concept, our experimental approach, and the implications that this approach has for wireless signal processing algorithms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Telemedia Networks and Systems Group, Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David L. Tennenhouse & Vanu G. Bose

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  1. David L. Tennenhouse
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  2. Vanu G. Bose
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Tennenhouse, D.L., Bose, V.G. The SpectrumWare approach to wireless signal processing. Wireless Netw 2, 1–12 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01201458

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