Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. has announced that its flexComm( SDR-3001 software defined radio (SDR) platforms have been selected by a leading global telecommunications software and service provider for internal research and development into Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) technology.
MIMO technology refers to the use of multiple transmitters, antennas and receivers in a wireless communication system to increase spectral efficiency. MIMO allows more data to be transferred within the same spectral bandwidth and/or to increase transmission quality of service. The ultimate goal of adopting MIMO technologies is to improve cost efficiencies in radio networks.
"The benefits of MIMO technology can outweigh the additional costs, including multiple RF front ends and additional processing, necessary to support MIMO systems," said Leonard G. Pucker II, Spectrum's chief technology officer. "Utilization of software defined radio technologies, such as those in Spectrum's SDR-3001 platform, can offset these increased costs for original equipment manufacturers allowing for the creation of MIMO based systems in a cost efficient manner."
Spectrum's SDR-3001 is comprised of a heterogeneous processing platform incorporating Xilinx field programmable gate arrays and PowerPC processors from IBM and Freescale. It also includes VxWorks real-time operating system by Wind River and Spectrum's quicComm hardware abstraction layer, which facilitates algorithm partitioning and programming with a real-time operating system. RapidIO provides a high bandwidth interconnect fabric between the processors, as well as the input/output functionality to the processors, to ensure efficient use of the processing resources.
