Claude Thibeault (professor, ETS), Jean-Claude Thibault (engineer, ISR Technologies), François Levesque (research assistant, INRS-EMT), Quoc-Thai Ho (research assistant, INRS-EMT), Besma Smida (collaborator, Harvard University).

In the current context where cellular technologies are aiming to catch up or even outperform WLAN technologies (i.e., IEEE 802.xx) in terms of data rates and the latter are trying to overcome their limitations compared to the former ones in terms of mobility and coverage, it is quite reasonable to anticipate the convergence of both types of technologies in the near future. In such an eventuality where moreover both technologies will share in common a multi-carrier radio interface, having universal multi-carrier receivers that operate for multiple transmission types (DS-CDMA, MT-CDMA, MC-DS-CDMA, TFL-CDMA, OFDM, etc…) and that can be easily reconfigured by simply setting the parameters of a programmable radio is quite desirable. This new receiver that we aim at developing and prototyping within this project would allow, since then, a transparent migration between several high-data-rate radio interfaces available at a low hardware cost on a unique wireless terminal. It would provide an extremely efficient solution to the major challenges related to the coexistence of both technologies such as the problem of radio interface detection/selection among all those available in future heterogeneous networks and that of reconfiguration by means of over-the-air downloadable software.