Today, wireless communication relies on numerous independent devices, each employing its own protocols and operating within a fixed segment of the frequency spectrum. Because these devices can't communicate with each other, they have collectively created a highly inefficient climate. Moreover, there's a potential for interference and "jamming" of each other's transmission and reception, especially when a high-power transmission occurs simultaneously with highly sensitive reception.
It's not unusual to see people with more than one cell phone, a Wi-Fi card, a notebook with an NIC, a Bluetooth-enabled PDA, and a GPS device in their car. Eventually, though, users will want to consolidate and coordinate all communication appliances into one intelligent device.
Adaptive radio uses one device to communicate across all of these frequency ranges with the appropriate protocol. When the communication is initiated, the adaptive radio senses its environment and, for example, chooses the best available frequency. During the transmission and reception, it might change protocols and frequencies several times to ensure a reliable, high-speed connection. In the fullest implementation of this vision, billing for these services would be aggregated onto one monthly invoice, and customers would no longer pay attention to which specific protocol or technology was handling their wireless communications.
This vision isn't nearly as far off as it might seem. Intel Research has been working on developing the hardware and software building blocks necessary for implementing adaptive communications. The goal is to create inexpensive silicon components and software modules that vendors could use to assemble devices with adaptable intelligence. Many innovative technologies have been developed, yet several obstacles remain.
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