A Reconfigurable Baseband Platform Based on an Asynchronous Network-on-Chip

In order to face the inherent complexity of new radio access technologies and to address the development of multi-standard devices, an innovative reconfigurable baseband architecture based on a distributed control and communication framework is proposed. This architecture is tailored to the possibilities and limitations of next-generation CMOS nanotechnologies in terms of leakage and timing closure. A combination of technology features, message passing control model, network-on-chip, asynchronous implementation, clocking and power reduction policies is used. The 79.5 chip was manufactured in a 130 nm CMOS technology and is integrated in a prototyping platform to perform real-time experimentation of advanced MIMO OFDM based telecom techniques. It is composed of 23 functional units, such as computing intensive IPs, channel coding blocks, programmable DMA engines, an ARM946ES core, and an Ethernet interface. These elements are interconnected via an asynchronous layered network-on-chip using an interface that controls the communication and configuration parameters during application scheduling.