Self-booting software defined radio module
Gespeichert in:
| Titel: | Self-booting software defined radio module |
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| Patent Number: | 7,404,074 |
| Publikationsdatum: | July 22, 2008 |
| Appl. No: | 10/618950 |
| Application Filed: | July 14, 2003 |
| Abstract: | The invention in the simplest form is a self-booting software defined radio (SDR) module which may be embodied as a PCMCIA, Compact Flash, or other plug in form factor module. The performance characteristics of the module, may include the radio frequency (RF) carrier frequency, instantaneous RF bandwidth, carrier modulation and demodulation, symbol coding and decoding, security, and network protocol that can be altered and saved by means of computer software transferred to the module from a host device such as a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, lap top computer or other programming device. |
| Inventors: | Murotake, David K (Nashua, NH, US) |
| Assignees: | SCA Technica, Inc. (Nashua, NH, US) |
| Claim: | 1. A self-booting software defined radio (SDR) module that interfaces with a host system, said module comprising: a modulation/demodulation section with a stored run-time kernel, wherein a processing unit of said modulation/demodulation section executes said run time kernel; an interface mechanism coupling said host system to said module, wherein said host system provides a plug-and-play capability and a set of reconfiguration information, and wherein said interface mechanism is a plug-and-play interface mechanism; a front end unit receiving communications signals and processing said communications signals using said reconfiguration information; and a multi-port crossbar coupled to said front end unit. |
| Claim: | 2. A self-booting software defined radio (SDR) module that interfaces with a host system, said module comprising: a modulation/demodulation section with a stored run-time kernel, wherein a processing unit of said modulation/demodulation section executes said run time kernel; an interface mechanism coupling said host system to said module, wherein said host system provides a plug-and-play capability and a set of reconfiguration information, and wherein said interface mechanism is a plug-and-play interface mechanism; and a front end unit receiving communications signals and processing said communications signals using said reconfiguration information; said modulation/demodulation section comprising a high speed fabric. |
| Claim: | 3. A software reconfigurable radio/wireless module employing a software communications architecture (SCA), comprising: at least one processor unit; at least one memory unit coupled to said processor unit by a control bus; a plurality of reconfigurable elements; an interface mechanism for transferring reconfiguration information from a host device to said reconfigurable elements, wherein said interface mechanism is a plug-and-play interface mechanism; at least one radio frequency interface block; and at least one multi-port reconfigurable crossbar switch with bi-directional ports coupling to said radio frequency interface block and to said processor unit. |
| Claim: | 4. The software reconfigurable radio/wireless module according to claim 3 , wherein said radio frequency interface comprises at least one switchably coupled antenna. |
| Claim: | 5. The software reconfigurable radio/wireless module according to claim 3 , wherein said multi-port crossbar switch uses a serial digital interface. |
| Claim: | 6. The software reconfigurable radio/wireless module according to claim 3 , wherein said reconfigurable elements comprise reconfigurable transceivers. |
| Claim: | 7. The software reconfigurable radio/wireless module according to claim 3 , wherein said multi-port crossbar switch uses a serial digital interface. |
| Claim: | 8. A switched fabric software defined radio module, comprising: at least two reconfigurable logic devices on said module, wherein said reconfigurable logic devices are each comprising: a front end unit for transmission and reception of information signals; a processing unit; a memory section; a crossbar switch; and an internal fabric interface, wherein said processing unit, said memory section, and said crossbar switch are coupled to said internal fabric interface. |
| Claim: | 9. The switched fabric software defined radio module according to claim 8 , wherein said crossbar switch is configured as a ring. |
| Claim: | 10. The switched fabric software defined radio module according to claim 8 , wherein said devices further comprises a software communications architecture (SCA) run time kernel. |
| Current U.S. Class: | 713/100 |
| Patent References Cited: | 5530814 June 1996 Wong et al. 6052600 April 2000 Fette et al. 6091715 July 2000 Vucetic et al. 6181734 January 2001 Palermo 6366622 April 2002 Brown et al. 6504867 January 2003 Efstathiou 6526110 February 2003 Bao et al. 2001/0032318 October 2001 Yip et al. 2001/0053970 December 2001 Ford et al. 2002/0082044 June 2002 Davenport 2002/0083432 June 2002 Souissi et al. 2002/0183013 December 2002 Auckland et al. 2003/0050055 March 2003 Ting et al. 2003/0220988 November 2003 Hymel WO 01/90891 November 2001 WO 02/05444 January 2002 WO 03/028228 April 2003 |
| Other References: | PCT International Search Report dated Jun. 29, 2004 of International Application No. PCT/US03/22089 filed Jul. 14, 2003. cited by other Murotake, David K., “Use of Switched Fabrics in Implementation of Software Defined Radio Smart Antenna and Interference Cancellation Signal Processing”,Jan. 23, 2003, pp. 1-6, SCA Technica Inc., Nashua NH. cited by other Murotake et al, Real-Time Implementation of a Reconfigurable IMT-2000 Base Station Channel Modem, Software and DSP in Radio, IEEE Communications Magazine, Feb. 2000, pp. 148-152. cited by other Blust, Stephen and Murotake, David, Software-Defined Radio Moves into Base-Station Designs, Wireless Systems Design, Nov. 1999, pp. 31-40. cited by other Bernier, Steve and Latour, Capt Hugues, Software Communications Architecture Reference Implementation (SCARI) Project, Software Defined Radio Forum, Jan. 29, 2002, pp. 1-43. cited by other Xilinx, Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGAs: Introduction and Overview, DSO83-1 (v2.0) Jun. 13, 2002, pp. 1-7. cited by other Fewer, Colin, Cross Bar Switch Implemented in FPGAs, Xilinx WP166 (v1.0), Sep. 9, 2002, pp. 1-18. cited by other Shah, Alok, An Introduction to Software Radio, Vanu, Inc., 2002, pp. 1-5. cited by other Schoeberl, Martin, Using JOP at an Early Design Stage in a Real World Application, JOP Design, pp. 1-14, no date. cited by other Kohno et al, Universal Platform for Software Defined Radio, pp. 1-4, no date. cited by other Murotake, David, SDR Base Station Models—Multiprocessing, SDR Forum Document No. SDRF-00-T-0062-V0.0, Nov. 16, 2000, pp. 1-16. cited by other Murotake, David, JTRS SCA Platform Hardware Scalability, SDR Forum Document No. SDRF-01, Nov. 13, 2001, pp. 1-16. cited by other SDR Forum, SDR Primer, pp. 1-6, no date. cited by other Xilinx, Software Defined Radio & 4G Development, pp. 1-67, no date. cited by other |
| Assistant Examiner: | Yanchus, III, Paul B |
| Primary Examiner: | Perveen, Rehana |
| Attorney, Agent or Firm: | Vern Maine & Associates |
| Dokumentencode: | edspgr.07404074 |
| Datenbank: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| Abstract: | The invention in the simplest form is a self-booting software defined radio (SDR) module which may be embodied as a PCMCIA, Compact Flash, or other plug in form factor module. The performance characteristics of the module, may include the radio frequency (RF) carrier frequency, instantaneous RF bandwidth, carrier modulation and demodulation, symbol coding and decoding, security, and network protocol that can be altered and saved by means of computer software transferred to the module from a host device such as a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, lap top computer or other programming device. |
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