Thierry Dubois imec 2008 1 - Wireless · PDF fileThierry Dubois Market Intelligence – IMEC ... RBS 6000 Series ... – WCDMA/HSPA and software upgradable to LTE

Thierry Duboisimec 2008 1

Flexible and Cognitive Radios:

Myth or Reality?

Thierry DuboisMarket Intelligence – IMECPresentation for the Wireless Community, February 19th 2009


Outline

• Flexible radio concept: SDR• For which applications can it be used?• SDR market update• The path to Cognitive Radio


Situation today: crowdy and unflexible!

Source: Portelligent, 2007


Solution: Software Defined Radio

© Bitwave Semiconductor

Lots of dedicated standalone chips

TODAY FUTURE

Only a few programmable

chips

Limited amount of software

More softwareLess hardware

Unflexible Very flexible


Key benefits

• Reducing the Bill of Materials (BOM)• Lower development costs• Facilitate better reuse of intellectual property• Possibility to upgrade fielded products• Enabler of the Cognitive Radio vision

Main advantages are related to the DESIGN of a phone


SDR, an evolution of platform-based design

…

Cost-efficiently design new generations of products:

+ EDGE+ GPS

SDR SDR

+ HSPA? + LTE?

SDR?


Outline



A little bit of (military) history

Joseph MitolaIntroduced the term Software Radio in 1992“The Software Radio; IEEE National Telesystems Conference, 1992”

But, radio programmability was explored much earlier:late ’70s: VLF Radio by Roke Manor Research (ADC+8085)

SPEAKeasy by U.S. DoDPhase I: 1992~1995 Modem OnlyPhase II: 1996~2000 Entire Radio

Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) by U.S. DoD & NATO2001~2008, 3 phases, work in progress


SDR market segments

Early adopters Emerging Markets

Components of the Shelf (COTS)Limited volumesStandardized middleware (CORBA, SCA)Easily portable SW waveforms

Targeted solutions Power!High volumesMiddleware not standardized (yet?)Tightly coupled HW and L1 SW

Military Public Safety Network Infrastructure

Amateur Radio Test & Measurement

Mobile Phones Automotive Machine 2 Machine

Other NomadicDevices Femtocells

SDRSDR

…


Network Infrastructure

• Ericsson - RBS 6000 Series– “Multimode” base station (GSM, UMTS, HSPA and LTE)

– Major shift from earlier strategy: treat GSM and WCDMA separately

– “SDR” consistently avoided for marketing reasons

• Nokia Siemens Networks – Flexi Base Station– WCDMA/HSPA and software upgradable to LTE

Selling simple software upgrades in stead of hardware replacements cannabalizes the own revenue stream..

But additional need for antenna elements and RF modules !Extra HW cost for operators but welcomed revenue for vendors!


Standard servers, e.g. IBM, Intel, HP or Dell.

easily scalable

VanuMIT spin-off (1998), founded by Vanu BosePioneer in SDR at network sideFirst equipment certified by FCC as SDRInitial target = rural markets

Projects in Texas, Alaska, India


Femtocells

“A femtocell is a small cellular base station for use in residential or small business environments”

Good match with SDR technologies:Supporting multiple standardsSoftware upgradable (over the Internet) by operatorPower penalty less of an issueTypically a longer life cycle than mobile phones

Future convergence with routers/set-top boxes ?


Automotive

• Big car manufacturers are “considering” SDR• A true wireless environment

– Infotainment, Car-to-X, navigation, mobile communication, …

• Customizing cars for specific regions• To keep in mind

– Car-2-Car: safety critical, dedicated links always ‘ON’

– Automotive long design cycles, slow technology adoption rate

– Impact of plug-in modules/devices (e.g. GPS)


Machine-2-machine (M2M) communication

• Remote monitoring, smart metering, security systems, tracking & tracing, fleet management, …

WMCS AM120 Transics TX-MAXon-board computer

track and tracemoduleCinterion M2M modules

GPRS, EDGE, HSPA

• Possible showstoppers– Security risks introduced by SDR

– Which M2M applications (will) really need multi-mode communication?


Other nomadic devices

MID, UMPC, netbooks, PDA, data cards, dongles, embedded modules, …

Wireless Broadband Access, Anywhere, Anytime!

Option

HPAsusSonyPalmGigabyte

Will the host CPU become the baseband processor of the future?


Outline



• NXP (?): AdelanteTM VD32040Embedded Vector Processor (EVP) for multi-standard modems

Already being used in TS-CDMA phones in China

• Infineon: X-GOLDTM SDR 20 (aka Music)Sampling 65nm version for lead customer this year

SW available for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, LTE, WLAN, MobileTV

SDR baseband is happening now!

Other SDR baseband players include Icera, Silicon Hive, Sandbridge, Asocs, Coresonic,

3Plus1, PACT, …


Reconfigurable RF is further down the road

• A lot of “multi-mode, multi-band” solutions popping up– Dedicated circuitry supporting multiple standards in one monolithic IC

– “Bottom-up” approach

• True reconfigurable RF solutions are scarce in the market!– M4S (IMEC spinoff), BitWave Semiconductor, Lime Semiconductor

• Need for multiple radio connections simultaneously– Multiple reconfigurable front-ends needed

Sequoia CommunicationsHSDPA/WCDMA, EDGE/GPRS/GSM

Infineon SmartiTM LULTE / 3G / 2G

multimode RF Transceiver


SDR enabled handset shipments 2007-2011

Source: ARCchart Research, 2008

Optimistic Pessimistic

Absolute numbers (millions)

Pre-crisisforecasts!


Outline



Cognitive Radio definition

“A radio that can autonomously change its parameters

based on interaction with,

and possibly learning of,

the environment in which it operates.”

Observation

Environment

Analysis/Decision

Action


What do you need for CR?

SDR technologies

+Sensing hardware

Sensing algorithms

Cognitive Intelligence

= CR


The Path to Full Cognitive Radio

• 2 essential CR characteristics: flexibility and intelligence– Flexibility: provided by SDR technologies

– Intelligence: Intelligent Signal Processing (ISP), from PHY to APPL

ADC at the antenna!

Mitola cognition = sensing and perception capabilities in the user domain, not just radio.Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence

“Not before 2030”

Our current research focus

Source: SDR Forum Report


2 Waves of Cognitive Radio

• 1st Wave: Opportunistic Radio*– A radio that co-exists with other systems using the same spectrum

– Limited to a few well defined scenarios in non-cellular spectrum

• 2nd Wave: Smart Reconfigurable Radio Systems– A radio that makes flexible and efficient use

of network/spectrum resources across heterogeneous environments

– Seamlessly roaming on different networks, countries, frequencies, …

– Focus shifts towards cellular networks

– Requires true paradigm shift: spectrum liberalization

* Note that dynamic channel selection schemes which scan a specific small radio band for available channels are not classified as a 1st Wave of CR (e.g. DCS schemes used in WLAN, Bluetooth or other proprietary systems)


The digital dividend: 1st wave of CR

• Digital dividend = spectrum freeing up after analog switch-off• Ongoing debate on how to use and release this digital dividend

e.g. White Space Device discussion in US

PRO“Wireless Innovation Alliance”

Google, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Philips, Motorola, Adaptrum, …

CONTRABroadcasters (NAB)Legacy operators

Cheap Internet for all!

You will interfere with our TV signals!

We want licensed backhaul!

Nov. 2008: FCC adopted rules for unlicensed use of white spaces!

Ofcom (UK regulator) on digital dividend:


SDR/CR: high-level timeline

2009 2010 2011 2012

time

2013

?

2014 2015 … 2030

Smart Reconfigurable Radio Systems

Opportunistic Radio

SDR Technologies

Fu

ll C

og

nit

ive R

ad

io –

Mit

ola

Rad

io


2nd Wave CR: some of the issues

• When will the spectrum really become overcrowded?• Huge standardization effort required• Support of regulators needed• Need to get the full value chain in line• New business models needed

Introduction of 2nd wave CR will be a political/socio-economical issue!

The technology will be ready!


Thank you!

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Thierry Dubois imec 2008 1 - Wireless · PDF fileThierry Dubois Market Intelligence – IMEC ... RBS 6000 Series ... – WCDMA/HSPA and software upgradable to LTE