Reconfiguring wireless phones with adaptive chips

Cellular phone manufacturers are on the horns of a dilemma. On one hand, the demand for their products continues to grow. On the other hand, cellular-phone technology is also changing rapidly. Vendors are dealing with this problem by using an adaptive (also called reconfigurable) chips in a new way. With this approach, software can redraw a chip's physical circuitry on the fly, letting a single processor perform multiple functions. In addition, adaptive computing could increase performance while reducing energy consumption.