Software management for software defined radio in a distributed network

1 . A method for installing software to software-defined radio equipment comprising the steps of:

transferring software to a software-defined radio device from a software server, said software server remotely located with respect to said software-defined radio device;

storing said software to a portion of a data store associated with said software-defined radio device, said portion of said data store not being used as a storage for currently running software; and

loading at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software to said software-defined radio device during a restart of said software-defined radio device.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of automatically reverting from said selected software to a previous software version upon a fault detection.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of monitoring said transferring and loading steps.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of transferring to said software-defined radio device a selection identifying software to be loaded by said software-defined radio device during a restart of said software-defined radio device.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein said selection identifies at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein said selection identifies a software version.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

transferring said transferred software to at least a second software-defined radio device; and

consecutive with said loading step, loading said transferred software to said second software-defined radio device.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing an error indication if a fault is detected in at least one of said transferring step and said loading step.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said transferred software comprises a plurality of software components.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing a version indicator accessible from a remote location, said version indicator identifying software which is currently loaded on said software-defined radio device.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing a software listing accessible from a remote location, said software listing identifying software currently available on said data store.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said storing step comprises storing said transferred software to a second data store associated with said software-defined device.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein said second data store is non-volatile.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said transferring step occurs while said software-defined radio device continues to perform software-defined radio functions.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said software server is a computer operatively connected to said software-defined radio device via a communications network.

16 . A method for installing software to software-defined radio equipment comprising the steps of:

receiving to a software-defined radio device software from a software server, said software server remotely located with respect to said software-defined radio device;

storing said software to a portion of a data store associated with said software-defined radio device, said portion of said data store not being used as a storage for currently running software;

receiving to said software-defined radio device a selection identifying at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software to be loaded by said software-defined radio device during a restart of said software-defined radio device;

loading said at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software; and

verifying said loading step.

17 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of automatically reverting from said at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software to a previous software version upon a fault being detected in said loading step.

18 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of providing an error indication upon said fault detection.

19 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the steps of:

monitoring said receiving step; and

providing an error indication if a fault is detected in said receiving step.

20 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of providing a version indicator accessible from a remote location, said version indicator identifying software which is currently loaded on said software-defined radio device.

21 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein said selection identifies a software version.

22 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of providing a software listing which is accessible from a remote location, said software listing identifying software currently available on said data store.

23 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein said storing step comprises storing said transferred software to a second data store associated with said software-defined device.

24 . The method according to claim 23 , wherein said second data store is non-volatile.

25 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising the step of decompressing said transferred software after said receiving step.

26 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein said receiving step occurs while said software-defined radio device continues to perform software-defined radio functions.

27 . A system for installing software to software-defined radio equipment comprising:

a software server for transferring software to a software-defined radio device from a location remotely located with respect to said software-defined radio device;

a man-machine interface associated with said software server for receiving from a system operator a selection identifying at least one of said transferred software and said currently running software to be loaded at a next startup of said software-defined radio device;

a data store associated with said software-defined radio device for storing said software, said software stored on a portion of said data store which is not being used to provide currently running software; and

a processor programmed to:

load a selected one of said transferred software and said currently running software to said software-defined radio device during a restart of said software-defined radio device;

provide an error indication if a fault occurs in at least one of said transfer of said software and said loading of said software; and

automatically reverting from said transferred software to a previous software version upon said error indication being generated.

28 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said processor is further programmed to monitor said transferring of said software, and loading of said selected software.

29 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said software server transfers said transferred software to at least a second software-defined radio device, wherein said transferred software is consecutively loaded on said software-defined radio device and on said second software-defined radio device.

30 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said software server further comprises a compression application for compressing said software prior to said software being transferred.

31 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said transferred software comprises a plurality of software components.

32 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said man-machine interface further comprises a version indicator, said version indicator identifying software which is currently loaded on said software-defined radio device.

33 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said man-machine interface provides a software listing identifying software currently available on said data store.

34 . The system according to claim 27 , further comprising a second data store associated with said software-defined device for storing said transferred software.

35 . The system according to claim 34 , wherein said second data store is non-volatile.

36 . The system according to claim 27 , wherein said software is transferred to said software-defined radio device while said software-defined radio device continues to perform software-defined radio functions.

37 . The method according to claim 27 , wherein said software server is a computer operatively connected to said software-defined radio device via a communications network.