SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING COMMUNICATIONS THAT CONFORM TO A CELLULAR COMMUNICATION STANDARD AND A NON-CELLULAR COMMUNICATION STANDARD

• US 20100144333A1
• Filed: 11/15/2009
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (University of Texas System)
• Original Assignee: Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (University of Texas System)
• Inventors: Kiasaleh, Kamran, Balsara, Poras T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,279 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0003 Software-defined radio [SDR] systems, i.e. systems wherein components typically implemented in hardware, e.g. filters or modulators/demodulators, are implented using software, e.g. by involving an AD or DA conversion stage such that at least part of the signal processing is performed in the digital domain digital baseband systems H04L25/00; digital modulation/demodulation H04L27/00; CDMA H04B1/707; TDMA H04B7/2643; image transmission H04N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/005 adapting radio receivers, transmitters andtransceivers for operation on two or more bands, i.e. frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes

Abstract

The present invention provides a software defined radio transceiver that includes a programmable cellular radio front end and a programmable baseband processor. The programmable cellular radio front end is typically a digital radio frequency processor configured to support a cellular communication standard. The programmable baseband processor is connected to the digital radio frequency processor. The programmable baseband processor (a) selectively reconfigures the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support a non-cellular communication standard by bypassing one or more cellular communication standard specific function, and modifying one or more operating parameters to conform to the non-cellular communication standard, (b) processes input data in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard and provides the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receives output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processes the received output data to obtain transmitted data.

Claims

1. A software defined radio transceiver comprising:

a programmable cellular radio front end comprising a digital radio frequency processor configured to support a cellular communication standard;

a programmable baseband processor connected to the digital radio frequency processor that (a) selectively reconfigures the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support a non-cellular communication standard by bypassing one or more cellular communication standard specific function, and modifying one or more operating parameters to conform to the non-cellular communication standard, (b) processes input data in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard and provides the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receives output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processes the received output data to obtain transmitted data.

2. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein:

the programmable baseband processor processes the input data by mapping the input data to symbols and filtering the symbols all in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard; and

the programmable baseband processor processes the received output data by demodulating the received output data and runs a timing estimation algorithm on the demodulated output data.

3. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein the programmable baseband processor comprises:

a digital signal processor;

a field-programmable gate array;

or

a digital signal processor and a field-programmable gate array connected to the digital radio frequency processor and the digital signal processor.

4. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein the digital radio frequency processor and the programmable baseband processor are integrated into a single semiconductor device.

5. The transceiver recited in claim 1, further comprising an antenna connected to the digital radio frequency processor.

6. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein one of the communication standards is P25 and further comprising an IMBE vocoder connected to the programmable baseband processor.

7. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein:

the communication standards comprise GSM and P25;

the digital radio frequency processor comprises a GSM digital radio frequency processor; and

the programmable baseband processor configures the GSM digital radio frequency processor to support the P25 communication standard by loading a binary file, bypassing a GSM filter, configuring ADPLL parameters to set a transmit frequency modulated signal, configuring other block parameters, and configuring DTST multiplexers.

8. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein the transceiver is integrated into a hand held device having exterior dimensions less than or equal to six inches by four inches by three inches.

9. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein:

the cellular communication standard comprises CDMA, WCDMA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, LTE, TDMA, or OFDM; and

the non-cellular communication standard comprises Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, P25, UMTS, or non-P25 emergency standard.

10. The transceiver recited in claim 1, wherein the programmable baseband processor further provides serial-to-parallel data conversion, parallel-to-serial data conversion and compensates for different sampling rates.

11. A method for providing communications that conform to a cellular communication standard and a non-cellular communication standard comprising the steps of:

providing a programmable cellular radio front end comprising a digital radio frequency processor configured to support the cellular communication standard;

providing a programmable baseband processor connected to the digital radio frequency processor that selectively reconfigures the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support the non-cellular communication standard or the cellular communication standard;

performing communications conforming to the cellular communication standard by configuring the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support the non-cellular communication standard by (a) enabling one or more cellular communication standard specific functions, and modifying one or more operating parameters to conform to the cellular communication standard, (b) processing input data in accordance with the cellular communication standard and providing the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receiving output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processing the received output data to obtain transmitted data; and

performing communications conforming to the non-cellular communication standard by configuring the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support the non-cellular communication standard by (a) by reconfiguring the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support the non-cellular communication standard by bypassing the cellular communication standard specific functions, and modifying the operating parameters to conform to the non-cellular communication standard, (b) processing input data in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard and providing the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receiving output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processing the received output data to obtain transmitted data transceiver.

12. The method recited in claim 11, wherein:

the programmable baseband processor processes the input data by mapping the input data to symbols and filtering the symbols all in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard; and

the programmable baseband processor processes the received output data by demodulating the received output data and runs a timing estimation algorithm on the demodulated output data.

13. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the programmable baseband processor comprises:

a digital signal processor;

a field-programmable gate array;

or

a digital signal processor and a field-programmable gate array connected to the digital radio frequency processor and the digital signal processor.

14. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the digital radio frequency processor and the programmable baseband processor are integrated into a single semiconductor device.

15. The method recited in claim 11, further comprising an antenna connected to the digital radio frequency processor.

16. The method recited in claim 11, wherein one of the communication standards is P25 and further comprising an IMBE vocoder connected to the programmable baseband processor.

17. The method recited in claim 11, wherein:

the communication standards comprise GSM and P25;

the digital radio frequency processor comprises a GSM digital radio frequency processor; and

the programmable baseband processor configures the GSM digital radio frequency processor to support the P25 communication standard by loading a binary file, bypassing a GSM filter, configuring ADPLL parameters to set a transmit frequency modulated signal, configuring other block parameters, and configuring DTST multiplexers.

18. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the transceiver is integrated into a hand held device having exterior dimensions less than or equal to six inches by four inches by three inches.

19. The method recited in claim 11, wherein:

the cellular communication standard comprises CDMA, WCDMA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, LTE, TDMA, or OFDM; and

the non-cellular communication standard comprises Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, P25, UMTS, or non-P25 emergency standard.

20. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the programmable baseband processor further provides serial-to-parallel data conversion, parallel-to-serial data conversion and compensates for different sampling rates.

21. A system comprising:

a cellular communications network supporting a cellular communication standard;

a non-cellular communications network supporting a non-cellular communication standard;

two or more mobile stations that can communicate with both the cellular communications network and the non-cellular communications network; and

wherein each mobile station comprises an antenna, a programmable cellular radio front end comprising a digital radio frequency processor configured to support a cellular communication standard, and a programmable baseband processor connected to the digital radio frequency processor that (a) selectively reconfigures the cellular configured digital ii radio frequency processor to communicate with the non-cellular communications network by bypassing one or more cellular communication standard specific function, and modifying one or more operating parameters to conform to the non-cellular communication standard, (b) processes input data in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard and provides the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receives output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processes the received output data to obtain transmitted data.