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<H1>Army’s new 'smart radio' may revolutionize communications</H1>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Everybody loves their smartphone because they can get GPS,
the Internets, and all of its fun surprises. They can even make a phone call
once in a while.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>But what if there were a computer program that would allow
your device to not only receive phone calls, but also to automatically adjust to
receive WiFi signals and television broadcasts, track GPS, access HAM radio or
walkie-talkie frequencies?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Engineers with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy are working to
build a so-called “universal radio” test-bed this year in Fort Monmouth, N.J.
They hope to open the gates of “cognitive radio” development to academia,
private industry and other Defense Department organizations.<SPAN
id=more-881></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>The Communications-Electronics Research, Development and
Engineering Center (CERDEC) is creating a Software-Defined Radio lab that will
work with the Navy Research Lab to transfer work done previously on the Joint
Tactical Radio System to the GNU Radio’s open-source, free software
environment.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Tim Leising, director of the Software-Defined Radio lab at
CERDEC, said his group is focusing on developing and testing future software
defined radios with the GNU platform to promote collaboration and
information-sharing via network connections.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>In hardware-defined radio, the method of signal reception
and transmission is dictated by the infrastructure and mechanics of the device.
A car radio is built with electronic hardware that allows it to receive AM and
FM signals and play them over your sound system. With the turn of a knob or the
push of a button, you tell it which signal to pick up.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Software-defined radio, however, would use a
computer program to determine how signals are sent and received, tuning and
calibrating itself</STRONG>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>For the Department of Defense, this type of cognitive radio
represents a ground-breaking step forward in mobile communications capability.
It allows troops to not only use multiple modes, but also to easily switch
between radio frequencies and network types. No knobs means no time or awareness
lost while trying to tune to a certain channel on the radio.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Read the full Armed with Science article at: <BR></FONT><A
href="http://science.dodlive.mil/2010/02/05/armys-smart-radio-the-best-thing-in-radio-since-stern/"
target=_blank><FONT
face=Tahoma>http://science.dodlive.mil/2010/02/05/armys-smart-radio-the-best-thing-in-radio-since-stern/</FONT></A></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>