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Consider a radio receiver.
It performs two kinds of operations on received signals: (1) conditioning
the signals into a form suitable for extraction of information from them
and (2) processing the signals to extract the information.
Signal conditioning is performed by hardware that filters the signal
to remove extraneous noise; amplifies a weak signal so that it can be
"heard;" and, in the software radio system, digitizes the
signal for subsequent computer processing. These are necessary, but
preparatory, to the extraction of information. |
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Processing the signals in a software radio system is performed
by computer software, typically on a standard computer running a widely
available operating system. Everything done in any kind of radio
receiver which helps to extract information (i.e., play music) is
performed in computer software. |
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