CodeRAKE: a new small-area scalable architecture for the multi-user/multi-code RAKE receiver

Third generation communication systems offer variable spreading factor and multiple codes per user. Hence, the receiver architecture should be configurable to meet varying needs and should consume as little power as possible. To achieve this, different types of RAKE receivers have been designed and implemented. In this paper, we propose a new architecture of the RAKE receiver, intended to reduce area consumption and improve scalability. The proposed approach allows for parallel processing of each code on all of the multiple propagation paths on highly regular architecture.