To set the stage, we'll look first at some of the market needs for both the government and commercial sectors. Then we'll see how ASICs and DSPs have been deployed in typical software radio applications. We'll show the migration of programmable logic from its early role to the widely expanded capabilities of the latest generation of devices. Then we'll review the basic principles of digital receivers, the key ingredient in software radio. We'll see how and where these new FPGAs can be used most effectively in software radio architectures and illustrate these uses with some real examples. Finally, we'll give you some general guidelines you can use in planning your project strategy.