Reconfigurable Modem Architecture for CDMA Based 3G Handsets

Third Generation (3G) cellular standards has seen many changes in the design specifications during its evolution. There also exist multiple standards, CDMA2000 and WCDMA, which have different specifications for implementing the Digital BaseBand (DBB) system. Changes in a standard during the development of System On-a-Chip (SoC) can be difficult to accommodate or can make the system less efficient when incorporated at the end of the SoC design cycle. The concept of software radios has gained widespread acceptance in base stations using reconfigurable hardware. However reconfigurable hardware designs for mobile handsets still remain a challenge. This paper presents a design methodology to develop Reconfigurable Modem (RM) architecture for CDMA based 3G handsets.