Software-defined radio market to grow to nearly $10 billion by 2011

March 1, 2008
The market for software defined radio (SDR) is expanding; in fact, two SDR markets are emerging—military and commercial—according to analysts at Venture Development Corp. (VDC) in Natick, Mass.

The market for software defined radio (SDR) is expanding; in fact, two SDR markets are emerging—military and commercial—according to analysts at Venture Development Corp. (VDC) in Natick, Mass.

As the market learns more about SDR and the values of implementing various SDR components—versus total or ideal SDR solutions—VDC analysts predict the SDR market to grow at a 31 percent rate from $2.2 billion in 2006 to nearly $10 billion by 2011.

Driving the military SDR market is the U.S. Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program, and fueling the commercial SDR market is the deployment of upgradeable wireless infrastructure, VDC analysts say.

VDC found that the military market, and in particular the U.S. military, is still very much a research-and-development market for SDR and is likely to maintain that posture until 2010 or 2011.

The commercial sector, which VDC believes to be fundamentally different from the military, has adopted SDR technology in many wireless infrastructure products. Recently announced changes in the definition of SDR by the SDR Forum and the IEEE will formalize many products not previously called SDR, as actually being SDR.

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VDC’s research found that the industry generally views the deployment of SDR as a design choice made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as opposed to a technology of intrinsic value to the radio end user.

In addition, VDC found this forecasted growth in SDR technology to be driven by the ease of adapting or retrofitting products to new or evolving air interface standards; potential margin improvement for OEM equipment manufacturers from developing products on a common hardware delivery platform; and improvements in product development cost and time to market.

For more information, visit VDC online at www.vdc-corp.com.

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