Platform-Based Design of Low-Energy, Hybrid Reconfigurable Fabric for Wireless Protocol Processing

Tim Tuan,  M.S. 2001.(advisor: Jan Rabaey)

As modern communication systems increase in complexity, platform-based design methodology is a viable solution for the challenges of complex system design. Platform-based design advocates system design at a high level, shortening design time through reuse of well-characterized modules. Application and architectural explorations are key processes within this methodology. This project describes the early stages of applying platform-based design to the design of a protocol processor for the PicoNode, a flexible, ultra-low energy radio node. The application space is explored to identify the characteristics of the key functions, and the existing implementation strategies are evaluated to support these characteristics. Based on these studies, we propose a reconfigurable, hybrid architecture combining the key properties of field-programmable gate arrays and programmable logic devices for processing low-level PicoRadio protocols. An implementation of a hybrid block in the new architecture is presented, and architectural models are derived for estimating performance. In comparison with alternative reconfigurable architectures, the results show that this architecture can be an effective, low-energy solution for low-level, wireless protocon processing.