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Project
An Energy-Efficient Architecture Template for Wireless Communication Systems
Mobile communication devices are rapidly evolving. Simple cellular phones are being replaced with modern smartphones, which enable permanent Internet connectivity and many new applications. However, this trend is introducing strong design challenges, which can only be solved with new innovations. Because of the increasing number of communication standards and the allocated frequency spectrum, the devices need to become much more flexible. The rising data rates and the enhancement of functionality demand a much higher computational performance than in the past. Since the available battery capacity is hardly increasing, future mobile devicesneed to execute the given tasks even more energy efficiently. A furtherscaling to more advanced technologies is a must for achieving the required energy efficiency. However, to benefit from new technologies, futuredesigns need to take the occurring technological effects into account. Besides, the high design and mask costs of future technologies claim forhigh reusability. Since state-of-the-art design approaches can only cope with a few of these design challenges, but not with the combined set of requirements, new innovative approaches are urgently needed.
This thesis proposes a new design approach that considers all the fore-mentioned requirements. The core of this approach, and the main contribution of this thesis, is the energy-efficient Domain-Specific Instruction set Processor (DSIP) architecture template for the wireless baseband domain. The employed innovative architecture concepts together with the applied co-design of algorithm, architecture and technology enable an efficient implementation even in very advanced technologies. To prove the feasibility of the proposed design approach, an advanced Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) detector and a high-throughput filter have been designed and implemented in TSMC 40 nm technology. Both are essential for the realization of emerging 4G wireless communication systems. Although bothdesigns offer high computational performance and sufficient flexibility/reusability, they are at least a factor 2-3 more energy/area efficient than state-of-the-art programmable solutions. This result demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed design approach.
This thesis proposes a new design approach that considers all the fore-mentioned requirements. The core of this approach, and the main contribution of this thesis, is the energy-efficient Domain-Specific Instruction set Processor (DSIP) architecture template for the wireless baseband domain. The employed innovative architecture concepts together with the applied co-design of algorithm, architecture and technology enable an efficient implementation even in very advanced technologies. To prove the feasibility of the proposed design approach, an advanced Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) detector and a high-throughput filter have been designed and implemented in TSMC 40 nm technology. Both are essential for the realization of emerging 4G wireless communication systems. Although bothdesigns offer high computational performance and sufficient flexibility/reusability, they are at least a factor 2-3 more energy/area efficient than state-of-the-art programmable solutions. This result demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed design approach.
Date:1 Jul 2008 → 4 Oct 2012
Keywords:Wireless systems
Disciplines:Other engineering and technology
Project type:PhD project