A computing device with a software defined radio. The software defined radio has an architecture with separate components to provide control functions and data processing functions. The control components configure the data processing components so that the software defined radio provides desired operating characteristics. To facilitate programming the software defined radio to communicate according to one or more wireless technologies, the computing device may include a library of wireless technology specifications. By accessing a technology specification in the library, the control components can determine an appropriate configuration of the data processing components for a selected wireless technology. The data processing components may be hardware or software and, if hardware and software components are available to perform a data processing function, the control components may select between the hardware and software components depending on throughput, processor loading or other criteria.