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Tim just wrote me this:

i really want: a mobile transmitter that will allow me to make use of whatever communications systems & signals are nearby and will convert them to whatever weirdo channels i want them to be converted to and transmitted on. you know what i mean?

And as I was casually looking up the current state of software and radio integration, I came across this:

“Software radio is a revolution in radio design due to its ability to create radios that change on the fly, creating new choices for users. At the baseline, software radios can do pretty much anything a traditional radio can do. The exciting part is the flexibility that software provides you. Instead of a bunch of fixed function gadgets, in the next few years we’ll see a move to universal communication devices. Imagine a device that can morph into a cell phone and get you connectivity using GPRS, 802.11 Wi-Fi, 802.16 WiMax, a satellite hookup or the emerging standard of the day. You could determine your location using GPS, GLONASS or both.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the potential to build decentralized communication systems. If you look at today’s systems, the vast majority are infrastructure-based. Broadcast radio and TV provide a one-way channel, are tightly regulated and the content is controlled by a handful of organizations. Cell phones are a great convenience, but the features your phone supports are determined by the operator’s interests, not yours.

A centralized system limits the rate of innovation. We could take some lessons from the Internet and push the smarts out to the edges. Instead of cell phones being second-class citizens, usable only if infrastructure is in place and limited to the capabilities determined worthwhile by the operator, we could build smarter devices. These user-owned devices would generate the network. They’d create a mesh among themselves, negotiate for backhaul and be free to evolve new solutions, features and applications.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Open Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.