dios that were manufactured in 2007 or later, these changes or additions can be made remotely without dispatching a technician. Eliminating the need to dispatch a techni- cian saves money. If new spectrum is added, the antenna will also need to be changed. Additional benefits of SDRs include lower manufacturing and power costs and improvements on interoperability between networks. When developers introduce new air interfaces, new chips are not required. Rather, new software is written and down- loaded to carriers. Even utility costs are lower because SDRs require less power. This results in lower overall ongoing costs. SDRs for Handsets, USB Modems, and Tablet Computers Adding new air interfaces and supporting multiple air interfaces in handsets, USB modems (also referred to as data sticks), and tablet computers is a challenge for car- riers. Each mobile device that a carrier supports must have radios compatible with the carrier's spectrum and air interface. It is more difficult to design cost-effective SDRs for handsets, USB modems, and laptops than for base stations. Consumer devices are smaller and require lower power consumption and lower prices. Traditionally, radios and air interfaces in handsets and laptops have consisted of chips for each interface. This is changing as mobile devices are now available with air interfaces on software rather than hardware. Icera, Inc., located in Bristol, England, developed the first SDR for data-only modems. It designed a lower-power-consuming low-cost Software-Defined Modem (SDM) by using generic, multipurpose reconfigu- rable processors rather than the larger, more power-hungry Application-Specific Inte- grated Circuit (ASIC) chips. ASICs are specialized chips built with the capability of many chips integrated within them. Benefits for SDRs in handsets are similar to the benefits of SDRs at cell sites. Car- riers that upgrade to more advanced protocols have the option to add the air interfaces The Streamlined Infrastructure of Long-Term Evolution Architecture as software