What's SDR radio?

In amateur radio world, one of ham's favorite radios is the SDR transceiver. So what's SDR radio? What is the difference between SDR and traditional HF transceiver ?

Definition of SDR

SDR is the abbreviation of Software Defined Radio, also called software radio. The SDR radio is based on a common hardware platform to implement various communication modules with software, it means part of the signal processing flow implemented by traditional hardware is migrated to software.

Advantage of SDR

Traditional radio are designed with hardware circuits. A circuit can only complete one communication function. so the development cycle is long and the development cost is high. Once the design is completed, the function cannot be changed. but the SDR radio has been simplified in hardware circuit, so the volume is relatively small; it is also programmable and expandable, so it is highly flexible; compared with traditional communication systems, it has better parameter performance and a large number of reference complexes. The mature algorithm used can speed up the development of communication modules, reduce development costs, and facilitate debugging and maintenance.

Disadvantage of SDR

SDR radio requires a large amount of computing resources and a large amount of memory to process broadband sampling signal streams and complete software support, such as downloading software radio application software and user interface software. There are many battery-powered devices such as PDAs that require a lot of storage space, and the power consumption of memory chips is quite large. In general, in addition to reducing the usual power consumption, the power saving mode and the support of the operating system are very useful for the power management of handheld devices in idle and standby modes. So this part has a slightly higher cost compared to the traditional communication structure.