Imec has developed a reconfigurable receiver for digital video broadcasting standards (DVB-T, ISDB-T and ATSC).
It is based on Imec’s reconfigurable processor ADRES and the work was supported by Panasonic's partnership in imec's green radio research programme.
According to Imec, software configuration receivers are the best approach for the different regional digital TV standards that have been adopted world-wide.
"Due to the ultimate programmability, software-defined radio (SDR) solutions are becoming more and more attractive. Reconfigurable processor-based implementations allow saving on design-cost and time-to-market," said Imec.
However, SDR baseband solutions are traditionally reported to come with an area penalty when compared to ASIC counterparts. As area efficiency is one of the most important factors that determine the final cost of commercial chipsets, competitive area efficiency is crucial for SDR baseband solutions.
Imec’s ADRES (architecture for dynamically reconfigurable embedded systems) processor makes use of a parallel architecture and software optimisations.
As well as supporting digital TV standards (ATSC, ISDB-T, DVB-T), it also supports wireless communications standards: both an IEEE 802.11n inner receiver and a cat-4 LTE receiver can run real time on the same architecture.
Antoine Dejonghe, manager reconfigurable radio at imec: “We are delighted with these results, realised through our collaboration with Panasonic, that clearly prove the relevance and advantage of SDR baseband as a cost-efficient and flexible solution for consumer electronics.”
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