DUBLIN, Ireland, 16 April 2007. At its general meeting in Dublin, the Software Defined Radio (SDR) Forum (www.sdrforum.org) members announced that it is now accepting entries for its second-annual Smart Radio Challenge, a worldwide competition in which student engineering teams design, develop, and test a software defined radio.

Smart Radio Challenge '08 is open to student teams from all academic institutions interested in SDR and cognitive radio technologies; registration is online and ends June 15.

Smart Radio Challenge '08 will entail multiple phases, including a qualifying round and one or more development rounds. Each student team must build and demonstrate an SDR that addresses one of four problems -- which the Forum will define by June 30 -- and supports required target waveform(s).

Teams will submit proposals specific to a defined problem by September 30, and those that qualify will be announced at the Forum's annual technical conference in November. The qualifying teams will then have 10 months to complete and submit their projects.

Sponsors of Smart Radio Challenge '07 -- Altera, Lyrtech, The MathWorks, Objective Interface, PrismTech, Synplicity, Texas Instruments, Xilinx, and Zeligsoft -- are all returning and will once again provide participating teams with development tools and training. The Forum, a nonprofit international industry association, is also accepting additional sponsorships -- available in five levels -- from companies and government agencies worldwide.

Following the development phase, the SDR Forum will award several prizes, and the winning entries will be demonstrated at the organization's 2008 technical conference. The Smart Radio Challenge '07 competition will conclude at the SDR Forum technical conference in Denver, Nov. 5 through 9.

"Our initial competition has been a rousing success, with 43 student teams from 12 different nations entering," Bruce Fette, chair of the SDR Forum's Technical Committee and originator of the Smart Radio Challenge concept, says. "Judging by the enthusiasm that Smart Radio Challenge '07 has generated, we expect even more submissions this time, and from more countries."

Further information about Smart Radio Challenge '08, including complete rules and entry form, can be found on the competition website: www.radiochallenge.org/08challenge.html.