EDA for digital, programmable, multi-radios

New technology and innovative usage models are driving the industry towards the ubiquitous use of wireless communications. The result is an end-to-end re-examination of radio architecture from the front end module to the MAC and the expected shift from largely analog to nearly pure digital radio design. Even RF power amplifiers will be digital, rather than analog in nature. Most importantly, radios will enter an age where one physical radio acts as many logical radios all at the same time. Much in the way computers evolved decades ago, radios will become multi-programmable. The combination of new radio architectures and mostly digital implementations will drive a new generation of design tools and techniques and, by necessity, will evolve to satisfy the demands of reconfigurable hardware and software programmability. Digital multi-radios will also accelerate the move from System-on-Chip to Platform-on-Chip design as all the elements of the platform, including the radios, are built on one chip using a single semiconductor process. In his keynote, Intel’s Chief Technology Officer, Justin Rattner, will talk about the challenges that this very high level of integration will have on design automation from architecture to manufacturing.