Component-based development of radio systems and subsystems: Are we there yet?

Today, there has been a tremendous increase of wireless standards, with radio devices supporting multiple standards within the same product. Component-based processing of radio systems and subsystems can speed up time to market and reduce development costs significantly. In achieving the vision of component-based development, four key technology areas that were postulated as requiring mature standards are accepted across the wireless industry. These include a common modeling language such as specifications and description language (SDL), a waveform functional blocks like quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK), a common hardware abstraction such as Open cores protocol and the TI eXpressDSP Algorithm Standard (XDAIS), and lastly, the application frameworks which appears to be the Software Communication Architecture Core Framework developed in support of the joint tactical Radio System. With all these, it is reasonable to assume that the vision of component-based radio system development is finally within reach.