Common receive module for a programmable digital radio

A programmable receive module comprising:

• a self-contained analog submodule, programmably reconfigurable for receiving all RF signals within a range of approximately 1 KHz to 1870 MHz corresponding to a plurality of radio applications, for converting a received RF signal and for outputting either the received RF signal or the converted RF signal as an intermediate frequency signal;
• and
• a self-contained digital submodule, coupled to said self-contained analog submodule, programmably reconfigurable for producing a bit stream representing information associated with a specific one of the plurality of radio applications based on the intermediate frequency signal
• said self-contained digital submodule being programmable for the specific one of a plurality of radio applications and produces one of the serial bit stream and a parallel bit stream as the bit stream in accordance with the intermediate frequency signal and the specific one of the plurality of radio applications,
• an analog to digital converter portion for converting the intermediate frequency signal into a digital signal based on the specific one of the plurality of radio applications;
• a digital processing portion for processing the digital signal, said digital processing portion being programmable to produce output signals based on the specific one of the plurality of radio applications;
• and
• a reconfigurable format unit for formatting the output signals into the bit stream according to the specific one of the plurality of radio applications,
• said reconfigurable format unit further comprising a first field programmable gate array configured to perform a first set of preprocessing and control functions, a second field programmable gate array configured to perform demodulation processing and a first set of input/output functions, and a third field programmable gate array configured to perform a second set control and a second set of input/output functions for the specific one of the plurality of radio applications.