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Reconfigurability Cluster
background
The Commission has played, in the area of Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks, an important driving role. So, it is with some apprehension that we see quite a scattered approach to Clustering in areas that are relevant to the work that we have been promoting.
It should be obvious that without critical mass there is very little that can be accomplished. Furthermore, focusing on "specifics" leads to losing the overall perspective. This is particularly true in the area of Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks. Thus, this document offers reasoned arguments for Clustering at broader level than until now suggested.
Commission Involvement
In 1996, in the scope of the Second Call for Proposals of the ACTS (Advanced Communication Technologies and Services) R&D program, one project was retained, FIRST (Flexible Integrated Radio Systems Technology), looking into intelligent multi-mode terminals.
In March 97, the European Commission (EC) organised the First European Workshop on Software Radio [8], trying to broaden the scope of the discussion. The workshop was instrumental in generating responses to the ACTS Third Call for Proposals, which included novel technological work in SR technologies. Two projects resulted in this area: SUNBEAM (Smart Universal Beam-forming) and SORT (Software Radio Technology), one dealing with the integration of smart array antennas in a "software radio base station", the other looking into base band issues, and namely channelisation.
The EC co-organised in June 98 a workshop with the, at the time, MMITS Forum, with the objective of fostering the exchange of experience in the field, and explicitly of promoting a broader approach, extending beyond the terminal. The result fell far from what was expected.
Having in mind the objective of launching a European Initiative in this area, with a system, all encompassing perspective, the EC again organised in March 99 the First European Colloquium on Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks, bringing together experts from many relevant areas, from DSPs to smart antennas, from algorithmic research to RF, from middleware and applications to network management.
First European Colloquium
At the Colloquium, the EC proposed a much broader, all encompassing approach than the one proposed by the SDR Forum. Their approach concentrates mainly on the terminal side (only recently was a working group formed to look into base station issues), while ours covers the whole system, extending through the network into service creation and application development.
Instead of settling for defining the radio in software, we envision re-configuring on demand not only the terminal but also the serving network(s) and the services they provide (hence Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks). Upon this open framework, we envision truly "platform"-independent applications, no longer exclusively developed by or for operators, capable of adjusting themselves to the serving network capabilities (or even being able to select from alternative serving networks) and the terminal characteristics, negotiating with the network to obtain the best possible service taking into account the user profile.
Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks - Scope and Functional Diagram
Such open framework allows for the involvement of new players, resulting in a revamped Business Model, however it raises serious institutional issues relating to Standardisation and Regulation.
Re-configurability would also promote a more spectrally efficient delivery of information to the user, taking into account the observed network traffic/load, and is ultimately seen as the enabler of full spectrum sharing. This, however, raises many issues concerning "ownership" of Spectrum, currently treated much like real estate.
In order for all the above to come to fruition, a number of Enabling Technologies need to be developed, spanning software, hardware and algorithmic aspects. And, driving it all, are (quite obviously, when we think about it) economic/business considerations, the same that have kept SR so focused on the short term. Except that this bigger picture suggests that there is much more to be gained from re-configurability in this broader sense, than a terminal-focused perspective would ever allow.
Moreover, by identifying the many advantages of re-configurability at the "Application" level, and de-coupling them from the need for re-configurable terminals, we can envision the provision of such enhanced services starting almost immediately and to all terminals, including the many dumb, "legacy" ones.