Europe strengthens global links in software radio

London 13.11.2002 (PROTEXT/ots) - In the current economicclimate an important research focus for the telecoms industrycontinues to be the future evolution of wireless communications.The reason is not hard to see when you look beyond the presentmarket uncertainties - Korea is already beginning to roll outwideband wireless Internet access, whilst estimates of potentialrevenue in Japan alone from 'Mobile IT' are forecast at morethan 42 trillion Yen over the decade 2001-2011 [reference 1].European and US-based companies cannot afford to ignore suchdevelopments. At a major international wireless conference to be held inCalifornia this week Europe and North America will bestrengthening research links in mobile communications, with thesigning of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK-basedVirtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile & Personal Communications(Mobile VCE) and the US-based Software Defined Radio (SDR) Forum.Both organisations have a global membership and undertakecomplementary but related activities supporting the wirelessindustry. The SDR Forum is an international industry associationdedicated to supporting the development and deployment ofsoftware defined radio systems that enable flexible andadaptable architectures in advanced wireless systems. Mobile VCEis an industry-steered international research organizationdeveloping innovative concepts and technological solutionsrelating to mobile and personal communications. WalterTuttlebee, Executive Director of Mobile VCE, and AllanMargulies, Chief Operating Officer of the SDR Forum, willrepresent their organisations at a signing ceremony to be heldon Tuesday 12th November, after the close of the SDR '02Conference, at the Marriott Mission Valley Hotel, San Diego. The new agreement will facilitate mutual cooperation betweenthe two organisations with a view to increasing joint activitiesrelating to research, marketing of technologies, events, publicrelations and business introductions in the field of softwareradio research. About SDR Technology With SDR, functions traditionally performed by hardware viaanalogue circuits, such as the generation of the transmittedradio signal and the tuning and detection of the received radiosignal, instead are performed by software residing in high-speeddigital processors. Because these functions are carried out insoftware, the radio can be easily programmed to transmit andreceive over a wide range of frequencies using a variety oftransmission formats used around the world. In addition, theoperating parameters of a software defined radio can be easilychanged in the field by a simple software change. SDR provides an efficient and comparatively inexpensivemechanism for the design and implementation of multi-mode,multi-band, multi-functional wireless devices that can beenhanced using software upgrades, thus addressing many of themost challenging issues confronting the wireless industry. Mobile VCE and SDR Mobile VCE is a not-for-profit company, with a mission ofindustry-led, long- term, high-quality innovation, aimed atfacilitating the growth of the mobile communications business.With an international reputation for its research is availablefor exploitation royalty free by its industrial members. Itsresearch programmes - in strategic areas of wireless industrydevelopment, including wireless access, internetworking andsecurity, inter alia - are overseen by Industrial SteeringGroups. Mobile VCE has been actively cooperating with the SDRForum for the past 2-3 years, with significant achievements fromits research programme in the field of software radio havingbeen included in a recent SDR Forum report. Mobile VCE'smembership is open to small and large companies from all partsof the value chain and all countries. About The Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile & PersonalCommunications (Mobile VCE)

Mobile VCE operates at the interface between the wirelesstelecommunications industry and academia. Reflecting the natureof its industrial members, the vision of Mobile VCE is globaland its research internationally recognised. Mobile VCE's membership is open to small and large companiesfrom all parts of the value chain and all countries and includesmobile operators (Hutchison 3G, Orange, O2, SK Telecom, T-Mobile, Vodafone), infrastructure manufacturers (Fujitsu,Lucent, Nortel, Siemens) and handset manufacturers (Matsushita,Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba), as wellas players from adjacent industries such as broadcasting (BBC,Crown Castle, NTL) and satellite communications (Inmarsat).Other members include Degree2 Innovations, Tality, TexasInstruments, Thales and two of the UK's regulatory organisations,the Independent Television Commission and RadiocommunicationsAgency. Its academic members include the universities ofBradford, Bristol, Edinburgh, Kings College London, RoyalHolloway College, Southampton, Strathclyde and Surrey. About the Software Defined Radio Forum The Software Defined Radio Forum is an international industryassociation dedicated to supporting the development anddeployment of software defined radio systems that enableflexible and adaptable architectures in advanced wirelesssystems. The membership of the SDR Forum spans commercial,defence, and civil government organizations, and includeswireless service providers, network operators, component andequipment manufacturers, hardware and software developers,regulatory agencies, and academia. Presently numbering more than100 organizations, the SDR Forum's membership includes majorcommercial wireless players from Asia, Europe, and NorthAmerica. The SDR Forum's administrative office is headquarteredin New Hartford, N.Y. Additional information is available on theSDR Forum Web site at www.sdrforum.org. [Reference 1] Report from the Committee of Future MobileCommunications Systems of the Telecommunications Council, Japan,June 25th 2001, page 11. ots Original Text Service: Mobile VCE Internet:http://www.presseportal.de For further information, please contact: Mobile VCE: Dr. Walter Tuttlebee Executive Director, Mobile VCE TEL +44 (0)1256 338604 E-mail: jennyj@mobilevce.com Web: http://www.mobilevce.com SDR Forum Allan Margulies Chief Operating Officer, SDR Forum TEL +1 (0)315 736-2433 E-mail: asm@sdrforum.org Web: http@://www.sdrforum.org The Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile & PersonalCommunications

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