Hard on the heels of Qualcomm’s Gobi software defined radio (SDR) platform, Intel has unveiled a test chip for its own challenge in this mobile market, as well as promising an upgrade to its dual-core mobile system and other innovations, such as solid state drives, that will be geared to portable and mobile devices.
The test chip for SDR currently handles Wi-Fi, WiMAX and DVB-H mobile TV on one chip, while Gobi – with which Qualcomm stormed into the nascent market, originally staked out by Intel, for adaptive handset silicon ‘ runs W-CDMA, EV-DO and Wi-Fi, with the potential to add LTE, WiMAX and mobile TV in future.
The Intel chip tapes out next week and uses nine processing elements in different combinations to handle the three protocols. The processing elements are linked by a network-on-chip for the data and a control bus using the open OCP bus protocol. The test chip 79mW in receive mode at 52Mbps and 72mW in transmit, and links to three RF chips for the different networks.
‘This provides all the digital signal processing and forward error correction for these three protocols and the area is still comparable to three fixed function Asics,’ said Intel.
Intel and others have been showing prototypes of adaptive radio products for at least three years, although the giant watered down its once influential ‘Radio Free’ vision significantly.
An SDR is one in which a significant number of blocks in the transmit and/or receive paths have their functionality defined by software rather than hardware, making the functions easily alterable by programming. This has the potential to allow a handset’s capabilities, including its radio frequencies and protocols, to be adapted quickly, and even on the fly using over the air updating. As the SDR evolves into its logical heir, the cognitive or adaptive radio, the real power of this technology becomes apparent, creating a device that can intelligently switch between different wireless networks, picking the most appropriate according to criteria programmed into the software, such as cost, network quality, location, urgency of message or strength of signal.
Intel will also ship next month an upgrade of its dual-core mobile platform, which uses the next generation 45nm process. In addition, the company launched a solid state drive for mobile devices and plans to have versions for notebooks by mid-2008.
The latest version of Centrino, codenamed Santa Rosa, will include a 45nm Core 2 Duo processor, codenamed Penryn. The company is moving its whole product line over to the new manufacturing process, to integrate more transistors per chip without increasing energy consumption. The platform upgrade includes Intel’s GM965 Express chipset processing high definition video .
The solid state drive for handheld devices is the thumbnail-sized Z-P140, available in 2Gb or 4Gb models and weighing 0.6 grams. Using an Intel controller, as many as four of the devices can be linked together for a maximum of 16Gb. The drives can be used in any device that supports a PATA ( parallel advanced technology attachment) interface. In mid-2008, Intel plans to release SSDs that could be used as hard disk drive replacements in notebooks. The drives would be available in 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch models.
For the ultramobile PC market, Intel said it is on track to deliver its first generation low power platform, codenamed Menlow, in the first half of next year. This will contain a 45nm processor codenamed Silverthorne and a chipset called Poulsbo.
Finally, Intel plans to ship an integrated Wi-Fi/WiMax module, which will be available as an option for its next generation Centrino platform, codenamed Montevina and scheduled to ship next year.