A Coarse-Grained Array based Baseband Processor for 100Mbps+ Software Defined Radio

The Software-Defined Radio (SDR) concept aims to enabling costeffective multi-mode baseband solutions for wireless terminals. However, the growing complexity of new communication standards applying, e.g., multi-antenna transmission techniques, together with the reduced energy budget, is challenging SDR architectures. CoarseGrained Array (CGA) processors are strong candidates to undertake both high performance and low power. The design of a candidate hybrid CGA-SIMD processor for an SDR baseband platform is presented. The processor, designed in TSMC 90G process according to a dual-VT standard-cells flow, achieves a clock frequency of 400MHz in worst case conditions and consumes maximally 310mW active and 25mW leakage power (typical conditions) when delivering up to 25,6GOPS (16-bit). The mapping of a 20MHz 2x2 MIMO-OFDM transmit and receive baseband functionality is detailed as an application case study, achieving 100Mbps+ throughput with an average consumption of 220mW.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: DATE
• Authors: Bruno Bougard, Bjorn De Sutter, Sebastien Rabou, David Novo, Osman Allam, Steven Dupont, Liesbet Van der Perre
• Keywords: Baseband, Costeffective Multi-mode Baseband, DATE 2008, Hardware, SDR Baseband Platform