For The Gadget Universe, A Common Tongue

Vanu, the four-year old company founded by Vanu Bose, son of hi-fi inventor and MIT professor Amar Bose, develops software-defined radio for the purpose of enabling disparate devices–cell phones, handheld computers, laptops, etc.–to interoperate, and simplifying their upgrading via software downloads. The U.S. Defense Department, law enforcement, and fire and rescue agencies hope that software radio technology will allow them to more smoothly coordinate operations that otherwise would be hindered by incompatible and inflexible communications devices. Meanwhile, the FCC thinks that software radio could reduce interference by taking advantage of idle parts of the radio spectrum. Vanu’s core technology is Spectrum Ware, an early software radio format that was the end result of a four-year DoD-funded project led by Bose. The company’s commitment to designing systems that use reusable software chunks, common processors, and open-source products has made it unique. Devices with Vanu software could be upgraded more frequently and more easily than other software radio technologies, thus making software radio cheaper and more widespread. “They are the first people to really push software radio commercially,” notes GNU Radio Project leader Eric Blossom. Experts say that the proliferation of software radio over the next 10 years is a foregone conclusion, although several challenges remain, including improving antennas, developing more power-efficient techniques, and making better chips that convert radio waves into digital data streams.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the New York Times (01/02/03) P. E1; Feder, Barnaby J.