Software Architecture Tradeoffs This chapter addresses software design for SDR nodes. This includes software functions, hardware-software interactions, object-oriented design, and software architecture. It also addresses the evolution of the software components of SDR designs. Architecture tradeoffs addressed include the partitioning of software into objects. The boundaries of functional-interfaces and levels of abstraction determine the potential for reuse. These boundaries also determine the ease with which software products from different development teams will integrate into a multi-mode SDR | Software Radio Architecture Object-Oriented Approaches to Wireless Systems Engineering Joseph Mitola III Copyright 2000 John Wiley Sons Inc. ISBNs 0-471-38492-5 Hardback 0-471-21664-X Electronic 11 Software Architecture Tradeoffs This chapter addresses software design for SDR nodes. This includes software functions hardware-software interactions object-oriented design and software architecture. It also addresses the evolution of the software components of SDR designs. Architecture tradeoffs addressed include the partitioning of software into objects. The boundaries of functional-interfaces and levels of abstraction determine the potential for reuse. These boundaries also determine the ease with which software products from different development teams will integrate into a multi-mode SDR. Over time the use of specialized hardware facilities may be first encouraged and later discouraged. In addition there are continuing tradeoffs between system performance and algorithm complexity. The more computationally demanding algorithms often offer better QoS than the less computationally demanding algorithms. This puts pressure on algorithm designers software architects and configuration managers. The analysis presented in this chapter provides insights into how these tradeoffs shape SDR architecture. The technical focus remains on the internal structure of SDR nodes. Network-level software architectures are as important as internal structure but are beyond the scope of this text. Texts on specific air interface standards address networking issues 351-353 as do general wireless communications texts 354 . This text focuses on the process of structuring the software of high-performance SDRs and on the architecture implications of the resulting software components. I. THE SOFTWARE DESIGN PROCESS The tradeoffs of this chapter are set in the context of Figure 11-1. A specific SDR implements a subset of the radio functions shown. A top-down software requirements-statement should .
