Turbo decoder architecture for use in software-defined radio systems

• US 7,571,369 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2005
• Issued: 08/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Pisek, Eran, Wang, Yan, Oz, Jasmin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lamarre; Guy J
• Application Number:
  US11/225,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20060184855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 714/755, 714/786, 714/794, 714/795, 375/262, 375/265, 375/341
• US Class Current: 714/755
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/2978 Particular arrangement of the component decoders
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/6561 Parallelized implementations

Abstract

A reconfigurable turbo decoder comprising N processing units. Each of the N processing units receives soft input data samples and decodes the received soft input data samples. The N processing units operate independently such that a first processing unit may be selected to decode the received soft input data samples while a second processing unit may be disabled. The number of processing units selected to decode the soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples. The reconfigurable turbo decoder also comprises N input data memories that store the received soft input data samples and N extrinsic information memories that store extrinsic information generated by the N processing units. Each of the N processing units is capable of reading from and writing to each of the N input data memories and each of the N extrinsic information memories.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable turbo decoder comprising:

N processing units, each of the N processing units capable of receiving soft input data samples and decoding the received soft input data samples, wherein the N processing units operate independently such that a first one of the N processing units may be selected to decode the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N processing units may be disabled.

2. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 1, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

3. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 1, further comprising N input data memories capable of storing the received soft input data samples, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading data from and writing data to each one of the N input data memories.

4. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 3, wherein the N input data memories operate independently such that a first one of the N input data memories may be selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N input data memories may be disabled.

5. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 4, wherein a number of the N input data memories that are selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

6. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 3, further comprising N extrinsic information memories capable of storing extrinsic information generated by the N processing units, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading extrinsic information from and writing extrinsic information to each one of the N extrinsic information memories.

7. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 6, wherein the N extrinsic information memories operate independently such that a first one of the N extrinsic information memories may be selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units while a second one of the N extrinsic information memories may be disabled.

8. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 7, wherein a number of the N extrinsic information memories that are selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

9. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 6, wherein the N processing units are coupled to the N input data memories and the N extrinsic information memories by a communication switch.

10. A software-defined radio (SDR) system capable of operating under a plurality of wireless communication standards, the SDR system comprising:

a radio frequency (RE) transceiver capable of receiving an incoming RE signal and generating a down-converted signal; and

a reconfigurable turbo decoder capable of receiving soft input data samples associated with the down-converted signal, the reconfigurable turbo decoder comprising;

N processing units, each of the N processing units capable of receiving the soft input data samples and decoding the received soft input data samples, wherein the N processing units operate independently such that a first one of the N processing units may be selected to decode the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N processing units may be disabled.

11. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 10, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

12. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the reconfigurable turbo decoder further comprises N input data memories capable of storing the received soft input data samples, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading data from and writing data to each one of the N input data memories.

13. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the N input data memories operate independently such that a first one of the N input data memories may be selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N input data memories may be disabled.

14. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 13, wherein a number of the N input data memories that are selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

15. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the reconfigurable turbo decoder further comprises N extrinsic information memories capable of storing extrinsic information generated by the N processing units, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading extrinsic information from and writing extrinsic information to each one of the N extrinsic information memories.

16. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 15, wherein the N extrinsic information memories operate independently such that a first one of the N extrinsic information memories may be selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units while a second one of the N extrinsic information memories may be disabled.

17. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 16, wherein a number of the N extrinsic information memories that are selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

18. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the N processing units are coupled to the N input data memories and the N extrinsic information memories by a communication switch.

19. A method of operating a reconfigurable turbo decoder comprising N independent processing units capable of decoding received soft input data samples, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting at least one of the N processing units to receive soft input data samples;

decoding at least some of the received soft input data samples in the selected at least one processing unit; and

disabling at least one of the N processing units while the selected at least one processing units decodes received soft input data samples.

20. The reconfigurable turbo decoder as set forth in claim 19, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

21. A maximum a-posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm execution unit comprising:

N processing units, each of the N processing units capable of receiving soft input data samples and decoding the received soft input data samples, wherein the N processing units operate independently such that a first one of the N processing units may be selected to decode the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N processing units may be disabled.

22. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 21, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

23. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 21, further comprising N input data memories capable of storing the received soft input data samples, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading data from and writing data to each one of the N input data memories.

24. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 23, wherein the N input data memories operate independently such that a first one of the N input data memories may be selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N input data memories may be disabled.

25. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 24, wherein a number of the N input data memories that are selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

26. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 23, further comprising N extrinsic information memories capable of storing extrinsic information generated by the N processing units, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading extrinsic information from and writing extrinsic information to each one of the N extrinsic information memories.

27. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 26, wherein the N extrinsic information memories operate independently such that a first one of the N extrinsic information memories may be selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units while a second one of the N extrinsic information memories may be disabled.

28. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 27, wherein a number of the N extrinsic information memories that are selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

29. The MAP algorithm execution unit as set forth in claim 26, wherein the N processing units are coupled to the N input data memories and the N extrinsic information memories by a communication switch.

30. A software-defined radio (SDR) system capable of operating under a plurality of wireless communication standards, the SDR system comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver capable of receiving an incoming RF signal and generating a down-converted signal; and

a reconfigurable maximum a-posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm execution unit capable of receiving soft input data samples associated with the down-converted signal, the reconfigurable MAP execution algorithm unit comprising;

N processing units, each of the N processing units capable of receiving the soft input data samples and decoding the received soft input data samples, wherein the N processing units operate independently such that a first one of the N processing units may be selected to decode the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N processing units may be disabled.

31. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 30, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

32. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 30, wherein the reconfigurable MAP algorithm execution unit further comprises N input data memories capable of storing the received soft input data samples, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading data from and writing data to each one of the N input data memories.

33. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 32, wherein the N input data memories operate independently such that a first one of the N input data memories may be selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples while a second one of the N input data memories may be disabled.

34. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 33, wherein a number of the N input data memories that are selected to store at least some of the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

35. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 32, wherein the reconfigurable MAP algorithm execution unit further comprises N extrinsic information memories capable of storing extrinsic information generated by the N processing units, wherein each of the N processing units is capable of reading extrinsic information from and writing extrinsic information to each one of the N extrinsic information memories.

36. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 35, wherein the N extrinsic information memories operate independently such that a first one of the N extrinsic information memories may be selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units while a second one of the N extrinsic information memories may be disabled.

37. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 36, wherein a number of the N extrinsic information memories that are selected to store at least some of the extrinsic information generated by the N processing units is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.

38. The software-defined radio (SDR) system as set forth in claim 37, wherein the N processing units are coupled to the N input data memories and the N extrinsic information memories by a communication switch.

39. A method of operating a reconfigurable maximum a-posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm execution unit comprising N independent processing units capable of decoding received soft input data samples, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting at least one of the N processing units to receive soft input data samples;

decoding at least some of the received soft input data samples in the selected at least one processing unit; and

disabling at least one of the N processing units while the selected at least one processing units decodes received soft input data samples.

40. The method as set forth in claim 39, wherein a number of the N processing units that are selected to decode the received soft input data samples is determined by a data rate of the received soft input data samples.