MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS REQUIRE PROGRAMMABLE EMBEDDED PLATFORMS THAT CAN HANDLE COMPUTATIONALLY DEMAN…

Public award description

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS REQUIRE PROGRAMMABLE EMBEDDED PLATFORMS THAT CAN HANDLE COMPUTATIONALLY DEMANDING SIGNAL PROCESSING CODES WITHOUT THE BURDEN OF HIGH POWER CONSUMPTION. AS HARDWARE PERFORMANCE IMPROVES, TECHNOLOGY TRENDS HAVE SHIFTED FUNCTIONALITY FROM THE GATE LEVEL UP TO SOFTWARE, AS DEMONSTRATED BY THE EMERGENCE OF SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO. TRADITIONALLY, THESE PLATFORMS RELY ON FPGAS AND DSPS, WHICH ARE COSTLY TO PROGRAM. APPLICATION DEMANDS FOR RADIATION MITIGATION AND FAULT TOLERANCE EXACERBATE PROGRAMMABILITY ISSUES. MAXENTRIC HAS BEEN DEVELOPING MANYCORE-BASED SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (SDR) TECHNOLOGIES IN AN EFFORT TO INNOVATE IN THIS MARKET. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE DESCRIBE A RADIATION-HARDENED SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO SYSTEM CALLED RESILIENT. IN CONTRAST TO CURRENT SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO SYSTEMS, RESILIENT EMPLOYS A MULTI-CORE PROCESSOR, MAESTRO. USING MAESTRO FOR SDR WILL ENABLE SOPHISTICATED SOFTWARE-BASED FAULT TOLERANCE APPROACHES. MOREOVER, MAESTRO IS BASED ON A GENERAL PURPOSE PROCESSING ARCHITECTURE THAT IS SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER AND EASIER TO PROGRAM, DEBUG, AND VERIFY THAN FPGAS.