DesignArt open SoC Platform Architecture

 Guided by the vision of Metrozone deployments, we are developing mobile SoC platforms to enable the most compact design architecture for base station products, without compromising system performance.

 The related design goal was to facilitate compact single-chip base and relay stations – integrating all required signal, network and control processing subsystems into a carrier-class, multi-core SoC architecture. The benefits of this scalable product architecture are numerous, and the resulting cost synergies for vendors' development and manufacturing cycles are legend.

 In order to illustrate the magnitude of these benefits - let's build a base station from the bottom up...

» Multi-channel PHY with embedded DSP

 Vendors who already have a mobile WiMAX base station SW foundation in-house, might initially utilize the DesignArt SoC platform as "baseband silicon". This allows the re-use of existing network and control plane SW assets, whilst reducing portfolio development cycles and manufacturing costs dramatically - putting your product line on a solid path of evolution in terms of cost, performance and feature functionality.

 Our PHY solution is a key component - as we provide the only fully integrated, single-chip baseband array for the design of 2x4, 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 base and relay stations. Massive embedded DSP pipeline capacity enables vendors to take full advantage of the single-chip RF array capability - applying state-of-the-art multi-antenna singal processing features like MIMO, beam forming, interference cancelation, ... without incremental component cost!

 The use of low-cost RF pico arrays for Metrozones is beneficial from many points of view. E.g., a 4x4 picocell design based on low-cost RF/PA-ICs and omni antennae can reach quite similar performance levels than traditional microcells with much more expensive discrete RF designs - at a fraction of cost, complexity and power consumption. In addition, RF array signal processing techniques provide operators with more interference mitigation options, and deliver better service with cost-effective Metrozone deployments.

» Multi-mode MAC with embedded Network Processor

 To maintain high baseband system performance, we complemented our scalable PHY design with a high-performance network processing subsystem.  DesignArt has developed an embedded high-capacity wireless network processor based on multiple custom-built RISC cores, with many HW acceleration functions. The embedded network processor provides a complete fast-path implementation, eliminating processing overhead on network and control plane layers - minimizing performance requirements for an optional external host processor.

 DesignArt's patented multi-mode PHY and MAC implementation supports concurrent switching of multiple wireless communication modes, such as WiMAX access, high-speed PtMP BWA access, in-band PtP backhaul or PtMP relay, or concurrent operation of HSPA and LTE R8. The resulting MAC implementation is unrivaled in performance and efficiency, and fully non-blocking in every aspect. A standards compliant WiMAX baseband solution can processes more than 120k pps, including the SW-based scheduler provided by DesignArt.

 Supported baseband designs scale from pico and micro cells, to fully integrated macro sectors - all based on the same powerful, yet compact and cost-efficient single-chip baseband reference design.

» Multi-core Network and Control Plane Sub-system

 To enable the final step of integration and cost-reduction, DesignArt's open SoC architecture has been designed to provide scalable embedded processing support for all mobile base station network and control plane functions. Available base station SW packages provide many patented API-level enhancements, facilitating the implementation of embedded self-organized network (SON), home gateway or enhanced service control plane applications.

 Targeting single-chip in- and outdoor Access Point designs, we added an embedded multi-core CPU subsystem to the SoC architecture. Spare ARM9 processor power is available to vendors for the integration of their own OS and SW assets - or for the development of OAM&P, Control and Networking functionality based on DesignArt's SDK. The processing power and system design guidelines provide for the support of several thousand simultaneous user sessions - limited only by the actual base station application.

 The result could be, e.g., a full-featured, high-performance 4x4 pico cell, with zero-cost backhaul capability for Metrozones - on a single chip - and with a low-cost design architecture of less BOM complexity than competing Femtocell designs!

 And here we come back to our original vision - the use of compact, low-cost, yet powerfull pico cell "Access Points" for the deployment of dense, high-capacity Metrozones. But we are still missing one crucial aspect to facilitate such deployments - backhaul!

» High-capacity, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) Relay and Self-Backhaul

 To complete our vision - high-capacity Metrozones comprised of many Access Points - it is necessary to facilitate the use of new deployment sites - such as building sides, lamp posts, traffic lights, etc. pp...

 Access Points deployed in these sites need to be connected to the service layer of the mobile core network via high-capacity, low-cost backhaul facilities - without the overhead of timely and costly site construction and installation permits. This cannot be achieved based on wireline construction, no matter what type of wireline infrastructure might be accessible to the operator. In order to facilitate scalable deployments, only SLA-grade wireless backhaul can be considered, with the added requirement of excellent near- and Non-LOS performance. Traditional backhaul technology - wired or wireless - simply cannot fullfill these critical requirements.

 Hence, we have integrated with every base station the required high-capacity, low-cost, and SLA-grade self-backhaul (or relay) SW capability, so critical to enable Metrozone deployments. This capability can be realized as in-band backhaul - or zero-cost backhaul; or it can be realized as out-of-band backhaul, utilizing dedicated licensed spectrum. The choice is up to the operator.