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Wireless communication is constantly evolving since
the days of analog communication. The technology
cycle has gone through 2G, 2.5G and 3G. 4G is now
being defined and is gradually becoming
commercial. Alongside with research, developers
have been continuously facing the challenges of
demonstrating the functionality and performance ofevery new
technology. The biggest challenge faced
by technologists whilst developing new technologies
is to verify its functionality in real time.
Development cycles typically follow the flow shown
in Fig 1. An algorithm is initially designed on paper,
implemented in MATLAB, converted to C and finally
ported onto a DSP or FPGA platform to achieve real-
time emulation
Every technology evolution makes the underlying
algorithms more intelligent and complex, thus
making the task of development more compute-
intensive. Advances in DSP and FPGA technologies
aid in real-time emulation of the new
technologies. However, the development cycles
have only been increasing, due to the complexity
of programming these devices and the new
algorithms. The number of iterations of the cyclefor rework and
improvement of the algorithms
further aggravates the lengthy cycle.
Developers have been constantly in quest of a
real-time, rapid prototyping environment. The
ability to test the algorithms, in real-time, at C
code level is one method of achieving this. Mymo
Wireless has created one such platform for 4G LTE
technology. Mymos product MW1000 is a LTE
testbed, created on an x86 hardware. It has two
components, an eNodeB and an UE. Both the
systems host a linux OS and the algorithms areprogrammed in C. A
reference implementation of
LTE eNodeB and UE stacks is already ported by -
-be logged and visualized for verifying the eNodeB
The two components could be set up as a testbed
in a development facility, to conduct research on
the algorithms and protocols on either side. The
platform makes open many interfaces for
researchers to replace the existing algorithms
with new algorithms. For instance, equalization
techniques ofusers choice could be inserted and
studied by replacing the pre-coded technique. Thenew algorithms
could be developed in C.
Assuming that the coding is not extraordinarily
bad and that the new algorithm is not inherently
worse than the existing algorithm by a wide
margin, the new implementation would still run in
real-time. This enables rapid prototyping of new
algorithms
- Mymo Wireless on these two components,
respectively. The two components are capable
of communicating with each other in real-time,
over the air. These components could be used in
multiple ways:
The eNodeB component could be used to
communicate with an UE underdevelopment. The signals and
data
received on the eNodeB could be logged
and visualized for verifying the UE
The UE component could be used to
communicate with an eNodeB under
development. The signals and data
received on the UE could -
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The two components could be set up as a
teaching aid in an educational institution.
The platform allows the capture of signals
and data at various stages, thus providing
high observability of the underlying
technology. The visualization of thesesignals and data enable
good understanding
of the concepts by students
The two components could be used for
training technicians, who have to analyze
the log files of field testing to detect defects
in the field deployed systems. Once again,
the observability provided by the
components enables this
Effectively, MW1000 reduces the development cycle to algorithm
design on paper, MATLAB simulation and
conversion to C. The cumbersome and time-consuming step of
porting on to a DSP or FPGA platform is
avoided. The migration to DSP or FPGA could be done once when
the algorithms and protocol are fully proven.
Thus, MW1000 is a real-time, rapid prototyping tool. The
approach to development with MW1000 is shown in
Fig 2.
