Texas Instruments claims it has created the industry's first wireless basestation SoC with the 4G class performance required to meet the increase in data. The TMS320TCI6616 is based on the company'sTMS320C66x DSP generation and KeyStone multi-core architecture. It delivers over double the performance of any 3G or 4G SoC in the market, It can be used for every standard, including WCDMA chip rate and LTE bit rate to simplify the migration from 3G to 4G, with no FPGA or ASIC required, claims the company. It also boasts the industry's first multi-core DSP that processes both fixed- and floating-point math, to simplify wireless basestation software design. The SoC has an autonomous packet processing engine and programmable DSPs. Implemented as configurable coprocessors, the SoC's PHYs enable software defined radio which allows operators to rationally migrate to emerging standards without needing external components. Autonomous packet processing manages packets from both core and radio networks, offloading packet processing and freeing cycles for algorithms that enhance spectral efficiency. The autonomous operation of the packet coprocessors simplifies design and reduces material costs. The four DSP cores provide the performance needed for custom IP implementations to differentiate a basestation design. The PHY technology, packet coprocessor and multiple DSP cores provide the compute power for the challenges of 4G networks, says the company.
