Development issues in a DSP based software radio

Future generation WCDMA mobile systems will require a larger number of radio base stations to meet the high demand of data services. The implementation of the receiver in software radio provides for flexibility and cost efficiency that can adapt to changing standards and new protocols, improved complexity and upgradability of these base stations/node B's. This paper discusses some of the critical design issues that should be considered when developing a software radio. These include the development of a fast digital demodulation scheme and certain aspects of PC board design that should be considered. Results of the simulation and implementation of the digital demodulation and phase approximation in both hardware and software will be presented for the prototype FM software radio being developed.