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NXP proposes multi-mode LTE modem architecture

Software-defined-radio techniques attack proliferating standards problem

NXP has built its first announced implementation of the Embedded Vector Processor, that it announced late in 2007, into a multi-mode baseband platform that will provide the modem function for LTE (long-term-evolution) cellular terminals, spanning LTE, HSPA, UMTS, EDGE, and GPRS/GSM standards. NXP is calling this platform the “basis of a next-generation software-defined radio system solution”. It will achieve data rates of 150 Mbit/sec downlink and 50 Mbit/sec uplink.
NXP says that an EVP modem will support multi-standard baseband processing with negligible area and power penalties, and that it is already capable of implementing today’s preliminary LTE specifications, including the MIMO aspects (multiple-input/multiple-output. As a software-programmable solution, it will be able to conform to the specification as it evolves, NXP adds; specifically, it is, “fully compliant to the current draft of the 3GPP R8 standard,” the company adds.
The approach proposed by NXP to attack the problem of multiple and varied air interfaces in a single terminal is to sub-divide them in to categories based broadly on data rate. This groups together, for example, Near-Field Communication, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wibree and UWB; then, there would be a reconfigurable RF channel for cellular communications; and for high data rates a reconfigurable RF channel for high-bandwidth applications such as WiFi, WiMax and LTE. The EVP, complementing conventional DSP and microprocessor core, will provide the highly-parallel computational resources for NXP’s vision of the programmable modem.