How software-defined radio could revolutionize wireless

The Phi hopes to do for radio what Apple I did for computing—spark innovation.

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[Cattus In Nemus]

I'm extremely excited about this. I recall an MIT project called "Oxygen" from a decade or so ago, describing how RF comms would be all pervasive (like oxygen) if they could master SDR. I've been waiting...

As for the Apple metaphor, since I actually know my geek history I understand it is an apt comparison.

The problem is that too many readers don't know their history. We're not talking Jobs, we're talking Woz here. The author really should have compared SDR to the Homebrew Computer Club.

In 1975 there was this brand new kit called the Altair. It couldn't do anything. Seriously, it had NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION WHATSOEVER. In the beginning, the Altair had no monitor, no keyboard, no audio, and certainly no mouse. It had some switches and some blinking LEDs, and that's it.

But the group of HACKING GODS in the Homebrew Computer Club looked at this useless box and creamed their pants, it was the coolest fucking thing ever.

Within 5 years, the personal computer revolution was in high gear. And the world changed. You can trace that change of the whole world back to a little room in southern California, those manic geeks gathered around their silly box with the blinking lights. They recognized the future when they saw it.

Be a proud geek. Learn your history. (Ars - Please educate them.)

These new SDR products are exactly like the first real computers coming out of the Altair club. It's exciting as hell. Revolutionary even.

Go ahead and ignore SDR, then see how you feel about it in 20 years.

PS: I'm a Linux hacker. I have zero Apple gear.

 

[Cattus In Nemus]

These new SDR products are exactly like the first real computers coming out of the Altair club. It's exciting as hell. Revolutionary even.

It's not so much that people ignore SDR, it's that radio implementations that use more DSP are a natural progression of the the field. You can pretend it's a huge revolution if you want, but not many people who actually work in communications are going to swept away by that sort of ill-informed hype.

Of course SDR existed before this.
Computers also existed before the Altair and the Apple I.
In fact, the Altair sucked in comparison to 'real' computers of the day.
That's not the point.

For 30 years, computers were locked up in the ivory towers of the specialists, never in the hands of the unwashed masses. Judging by your response, I'd guess that you are yourself in such an ivory tower, and probably resent hackers like me intruding into your domain. I'm terribly sorry, but it's our turn now.

The revolution of the PC was that the power was transferred into the hands of the people, it was suddenly made accessible. Crackpots and dreamers and other miscreants. That changed EVERYTHING.

Look at the computers of 1974 and compare them to the computers of 1984. The difference was Hackers. Freedom to explore.
Not what your boss tells you to work on, but what you actually want to work on.

Now that we hackers have access to (relatively) affordable SDR, we can begin to explore the full ramifications. True invention and creativity can begin, unconstrained by the needs of the corporations that pay the bills.

Remember, Xerox had the Mouse and the GUI. It was a commercial flop. Did Xerox bring you the GUI? NO. Apple did.
There are dozens of great innovations stagnant in SDR right now, on the shelf, for exactly the same reason.

Hackers. Revolution. Why? A solid business plan? NO. Because it was cool.

Nobody really knew in 1976 what would happen with the Apple I, what its children would become. Hindsight is 20/20.
Thanks to hindsight, we now know what happens when hackers can finally get their hands on tech that has been hidden away for decades.

There are transition points in history. Game-changers, if you will. I believe this is just such a time. Not so great as the PC or the Web, perhaps, but truly significant.

You can disagree. That's fine. Time will tell.

 

[Cattus In Nemus]

This article tries to make it seem like SDRs are a new thing. They're not.
...
There have been many, many military SDRs that have been cost effective (at least in military terms where a $10,000 radio that is military rugged is "cost effective") over the past decade. Some of these radios support multiple frequency bands (some even supporting a range from VHF up through Ka-band in the same box). And this is all publicly available information! Many of these same systems even support multiple modulation techniques running from analog FM to digital up through things like 32 APSK and 64 QAM.

I worked on military radar and comms in the 90's. This is just the stuff that's declassified, there's a lot more where that came from.