[NTT claims software downloadable wireless protocol capability in a lab prototype. Future products still years away according to the company.]

Tokyo -- "NTT Corp. said it has developed a software radio technology that allows a single terminal to handle both personal handyphone and wireless LAN systems, and it revealed a prototype terminal that incorporates the technology.

"NTT is aiming to market mobile wireless terminals with the software radio technology in about five years.

"Currently, manufacturers of both cellular and PHS phone handsets sell new models every time the protocols are changed, so users have no choice but to purchase new models while the PCs only need the software to upgrade the machines. With the new technology, mobile phones will be capable of any changes by only upgrading software. It should be able to absorb major change, such as the radio frequency band change or modified method of modulation used, to be covered with a software upgrade.

"When the technology is realized, a single cell phone or a mobile terminal could be compatible with different types of wireless protocols, such as cellular phones, PHS phones, wireless LAN terminals, and even Bluetooth devices.

"The new technology is an extension of the software radio technology previously used in the PHS to make it able to run in a wireless LAN environment as well. The development work was carried out by Network Innovation Laboratories, an NTT-affiliated lab. PHS phones and wireless LANs use completely different modulation methods, and the bandwidths they use also differ by a magnitude of a hundred, so until now it has been very difficult to develop software radio technology capable of running both protocols. The NTT breakthrough has managed to solve the frequency band part of the problem, bringing software wireless a step closer to practicality.

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