Check out a recent feature added to our site: RF: Will it ever be plug-in IP?Written by Ron Wilson, Executive Editor of our sister site EDN, it covers the requirements for future mobile handsets and the integration of radio into the SOC, including issues around an 802.11n MIMO radio.
He begins:
For the next generation of smart phones, mobile video players, and roaming web accessories, integration means not just placing multipurpose basebands onto the same SOC (system on chip) with the application processor, accelerators, and memory, but also integrating the small-signal RF circuits of many radios onto the SOC. And therein lies a challenge.
At a glance, the feature covers:
For more on IP and the semiconductor industry, don't miss Warren Savage's monthly column. The latest instalment is: Warren Savage On: Our Virtual Future
- The next generation of mobile wireless devices will depend on integration of some radio functions into the system-on-chip.
- SOC development depends on IP (intellectual-property) reusability.
- RF circuitry is notoriously hard to reuse for some very compelling reasons.
- Reuse of third-party-radio blocks is likely to be difficult and slow to emerge.
For more on IP and the semiconductor industry, don't miss Warren Savage's monthly column. The latest instalment is: Warren Savage On: Our Virtual Future
