FPGA in the software radio

As new radio standards are deployed without substantially supplanting exist ing ones, the need for multimode multiband handsets and infrastructure incr eases. This article describes how emerging FPGA technology's unique combina tion of size and power efficiency plus field programmability offers a trans ition of FPGAs from ASIC prototyping to embedded products. Software-defined receiver examples suggest an enlarged role for FPGAs in pragmatic paths to ward the productization of software radio technology.