soft modem technology allpress-icera.pdfhspa hspa+ dc mimo lte 150mbps soft modem evolves...
TRANSCRIPT
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Soft Modem TechnologySteve Allpress, CTO and Co‐Founder Icera Inc.
9TH September , 2010
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc
LTE Focus Amsterdam
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Overview
• Introduction to Icera• Soft Modem Technology• Modem Performance• LTE and Multi‐RAT• Summary
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 2
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Introduction to Icera
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 3
2G/3G/4G chipsets, firmware & ref designsVoice
P2P
R&D center
Sales & customer engineering center
300 employees located in 7 countries
Company timeline2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
CompanyFounded
First SiliconSampled
SoftBankC01SI
AT&TQuicksilver
AT&TLightning
AT&TTurbo
3.6 DPA
3.6 UPA& EDGE
7.2 UPA
7.2 UPA
21 HSPA+
LTEMulti‐RAT
HSPA+
LTE
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Mon
thly Data Traffic (PetaB
ytes)
Mobile Data Traffic togrow by 66x by 2013
Explosion in Demand for Mobile Broadband
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Customer Portfolio
Netbook
TabletsSmartphones
2009+ 2010+ 2011+
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 4
USB sticks
Emerging Devices
Full
HalfLGA M2M
Icera‐powered modules available from Multiple vendors
7.2Mbps 21Mbps 50‐150Mbps42Mbps
LTE Focus AmsterdamCopyright 2010 Icera Inc 5
“Hard” versus Soft Modems
DSP
ARM11
I$D$
I$D$
I/O BLOCKS
PLLs
Clock distrib
DSPI‐Mem
Tx
RRC FilterRx RRCFilter
TX Rate Match
GSM/GPRSEDGE
DSPD‐Mem
HARQ processing
HSUPA
Turbo decoder
Rake Receiver
MMSEequalizer
De‐interleaver
Rate Matching
MRC Combiner
Control LogicControl
Control
PLLs
Ciphering
Scrambling
Viterbi decoder
P2P
Code Memory
Unified Data MemoryVector DXP®
Scalar DXP®
I/O BLOCKS
“HARD” MODEM
ICERA’S SOFT MODEM
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Soft‐Modem Technology
Advantages• Entire modem implemented
in software• Small silicon area
– Ease of support for multi‐RAT– Unified memory sub‐system
• Huge scope for algorithmic innovation– Adaptive Wireless™
Disadvantages• Entire modem implemented
in software– Software scheduling– Software validation
• Soft modem is not an “easy” modem
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 6
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Balance of Soft and Hard Modems
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 7
Instruction Decoding Unified Memory
Specificity of Data Path Width
Multiple-RAT
Arithmetic Operator Re-use
ASIC Design Flow
Algorithmic Innovation
Complexity of Standard
Reduced Verification Cost
Reduced Tape-Out Costs
LTE Focus Amsterdam 8
World’s First Commercial Soft Baseband
Vector DXP®
•whole PHY•2G/3G/LTE
Scalar DXP®
•Protocol Stack•Voice Codecs•Encryption
40nm silicon42Mbps HSPA 50Mbps LTE
No hardware accelerators
Memories
Memories
Processor
Processor
MemoriesLow
Speed Interfaces
USB
ROM
LTE Focus Amsterdam 9
Decoupled Silicon Evolution
28nm
The perfect platform for developing agile and high-performance modems:• Rapid roadmap evolution in software, including post-sale upgrades.• Signal processing can adapt to optimum configuration; no hard-wired compromises or assumptions.
40nm65nm90nm
Baseband silicon evolves with process technology to offer more MIPs & more memory; fundamental architecture remains the same
3.6Mbps
42Mbps
21Mbps14Mbps7.2Mbps 50Mbps 100Mbps
28Mbps
HSPA HSPA+
DC
MIMOLTE
150Mbps
Soft modem evolves independently, always portable to the next platform
LTE Focus Amsterdam 10
Soft Basebands are Smaller
Cat 14 (21Mbps) soft baseband in 65nm
Semiconductor InsightsCat8 (7.2Mbps) hard baseband in 65nm Cat8 (7.2Mbps) two-die hard
baseband, 65/130nm
Cat14 (21Mbps) hard baseband in 65nm
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Technology Enhancements
• Significant transceiver enhancements– All implemented as software upgrades to hardware platform
• Greatest gain from diversity– Type‐3i gain lifts minimum cell data rates
– 64‐QAM improving peak cell data rates
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 11
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Roun
d‐Ro
bin Ce
ll Ca
pacity (k
bps)
LTE Focus Amsterdam 12
Receive Diversity
...but even the snazziest ‘phones’ don’t yet have it
The humblest USB sticks have it...
So networks swamped by smartphone data have an easy capacity gain, at <<$1 cost
LTE Focus Amsterdam 13
Cell Edge Performance
Away from the cell centre there are typically only 1 or 2 dominant interfering
cells
INTERFERER#1
INTERFERER#2
SERVING CELL
12% 37% 20% 31%
Distribution of users across cell
Cell edge Cell centre
High quality cat8 modem
(type3)
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Interference‐Aware Receiver
• Detects interfering cell‐site signals– Cancels sync channels– Suppresses adjacent cell‐site interference
• Significant throughput boost where it is most needed
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 14
3x
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Received Data Rate Distribution
• Concurrent, side‐by‐side drive‐test
• Two 14Mbps‐capable modems
• Average rates:– Soft Modem 1300 kbps– Hard Modem 640 kbps
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 15
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Prob
ability Data Ra
te < Abscissa
Data Rate (kbps)
Soft Modem
Hard Modem
LTE Focus Amsterdam
CQI Report Histogram
• Signalled to node‐B• Gives logarithmic measure of SNR at turbo decoder input
• Reflects better channel conditions and/or better receiver performance
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 16
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Prob
ability (%
)
CQI Report
Soft Modem
Hard Modem
LTE Focus Amsterdam
LTE and Multi‐RAT
• High level of integration required– Limited utility of LTE “accelerators” or LTE standalone devices
• High compute requirements of LTE– High channel bandwidth processing– High data rates
• High power efficiency required over a wide‐range of use cases– VoIP– 100Mbps download
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 17
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Multi‐RAT Soft Modem Platform
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 18
ICE8061Multimode LTE/HSPA+/EDGE40nm processBaseband processor
ICE8260 or ICE8261Multimode LTE/HSPA+/EDGE130nm processTransceiver EDGE
WORLD’S FIRST TRI‐MODE SOFTWARE‐DEFINED MODEM
LTE Focus Amsterdam
LTE/HSPA/GSM Protocol Stack
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc. 19
CiPpp
GmmRabM
URlc
URlc
Llc
DsPpp
CiRt
VgMx
Sn
ApexAbGp
SmReg
Mmr MnSs MnCc MnSm
MmSs MmCc MmSm
(I)(U)SIM
AlSa
AlSi
RdGrr
GrrLlc(DTM mode)
UMac
Llc
GmmRd
RlcMac
DL/MDL
RlcMac Cpdcp
Llc
Gen
eric
Fu
nctio
nal I
/F
Rrc
GmmSim
GmmSm
SnSm
CRlc
CMac
Ccsd
RabmSm
GmmGan
GrrGan
CCSS SMS
SM
(G)RR
(G)(U)MM
L2
(U)SAT
RRC
UMAC
ERRC
MAC
EPDCP
RABM
GA-RC
GA-CSR
GA-PSR
CSDI
Grr
RTFDP/UFDP
GrrRc GrrLte
PPP
GAN Subsystem
CI
RD
URLC
SNDCP UPDCP
LLC
RLC
(G)Mph UMphPh
GrrMac
RdMac GL1 CPhy Phy EPhyECPhy
Anrm
L1Si
MUX
Application Background Layer
AMRCodec
IP
SubS
yste
m
TCP
UDP
RtL1
MnCb
GrrCb
L2Cb
UBMC
SM-CB
CbMc
Sat Cb PsdSms SmMmSim Csd
SS CC SMSMMCBSATSIM SM
ComPort
Application Layer
Non Access Stratum
Access Stratum
WPpp
GP
CcSs
Key
TMMData/Packet FlowTask Boundary
DeviceManager
L1Ctm
AlSu
ExCi
Ctm
GERAN UTRAN EUTRAN
CSR
GrrCsr
Csr
ECRlc
ECMac
ECpdcp
EUMac
RabMRrc
Eupdcp(C-Data)
2G
3G LTE
LTE Focus Amsterdam 20
Multi‐RAT LTE on an HSPA Stick
Commercial HSPA sticks (Onda and Nokia)No hardware modificationsRe-flashed with LTE/HSPA+ software•Monolithic multimode protocol stack•Monolithic multimode PHY
World first LTE-3G-LTE handover, streaming video21Mbps HSPA+18Mbps LTE
Mobile World CongressFeb 2010
R&S and Anite multimode testers
LTE Focus Amsterdam
Summary
• Soft modems can outperform hard modems• Soft modem technology is now a key component of cellular industry– Multiplicity of standards– Complexity of standards
• Silicon technology now able to deliver– High compute performance– Low power consumption– Small die area
Copyright 2010 Icera Inc 21