A software-defined communications baseband design

Software-defined radios offer a programmable and dynamically reconfigurable method of reusing hardware to implement the physical layer processing of multiple communications systems. An SDR can dynamically change protocols and update communications systems over the air as a service provider allows. In this article we discuss a baseband solution for an SDR system and describe a 2 Mb/s WCDMA design with GSM/GPRS and 802.11b capability that executes all physical layer processing completely in software. We describe the WCDMA communications protocols with a focus on latency reduction and unique implementation techniques. We also describe the underlying technology that enables software execution. Our solution is programmed in C and executed on a multithreaded processor in real time.