A Radio Independent Network – the Enabler for Software Radio†

Software radio will likely have a significant role to play in third generation mobile systems. The first tentative steps towards identifying the impact of software radio on a mobile network have already been taken in the RAINBOW project. This paper will consider network issues related to the software radio concept. The requirements on the network to allow the use of software radio in future generation mobile systems will be presented. Significant attention will be given to the network design required to allow software radio to be exploited to its full potential.