Everybody loves their smartphone because they can get GPS, the Internets, and all of its fun surprises. They can even make a phone call once in a while. But what if there were a computer program that would allow your device to not only receive phone calls, but also to automatically adjust to receive WiFi signals and television broadcasts, track GPS, access HAM radio or walkie-talkie frequencies?

Engineers with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy are working to build a so-called "universal radio" test-bed this year in Fort Monmouth, N.J. They hope to open the gates of "cognitive radio" development to academia, private industry and other Defense Department organizations. The Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center is creating a Software-Defined Radio lab that will work with the Navy Research Lab to transfer work done previously on the Joint Tactical Radio System to the GNU Radio's open-source, free software environment.

Tim Leising, director of the Software-Defined Radio lab at CERDEC, said his group is focusing on developing and testing future SDR software defined radios with the GNU platform to promote collaboration and information-sharing via network connections.

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Courtesy of: eHam.net Newsfeed