Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention described in the specification and the drawings is an apparatus and method for code correlation in spread spectrum communication systems. The apparatus receives a data sequence, and offsets the data sequence with a fixed sub-chip delay. The data sequence and the offset data sequence are each despread with a locally generated code sequence. The despread results are summed and accumulated. The accumulated results may then be used to achieve a lower “miss” probability during code correlation.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention described in the specification and drawings is an apparatus and method of generating a phase-shifted maximum length pseudo-random noise (PN) sequence without resorting to complicated counters and clocking schemes. The apparatus includes a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) that has N stages and the ability to generate a first PN sequence at an output of its last stage. The LFSR is coupled to a first mask circuit and a second mask circuit for generating a second PN sequence and a third PN sequence. The apparatus further includes logic for selectively outputting bits from the second and third PN sequences to form a fourth PN sequence, which has a phase shift relative to the first PN sequence.

Abstract: A Fast Hadamard Transform generator serially performs a Fast Hadamard Transform of a sampled signal from a first channel. The Fast Hadamard Transform generator comprises a series of stages. Each stage includes a shift register for serially receiving samples of the signal. Each stage further includes a two's complement generator for producing a two's complement of a first sample of the signal and a first multiplexer for selecting between a first sample of the signal and the two's complement of the first sample. A first adder then generates a sum of a second sample of the signal and the first sample and a difference of the second sample and the first sample and supplies the sum and the difference to the shift register of the next stage. In one embodiment the shift registers are implemented in random access memory.

Abstract: A configurable code generator system (CGS) for spread spectrum applications is disclosed herein. The CGS includes a composite code generator unit (CGU), a global code generator, and an interface that is coupled to the composite code generator and the global code generator. The CGU has multiple independent code generators, each capable of generating an independent code sequence. The global code generator provides a global code sequence for synchronization. The interface has memory that stores at least one bit of the global sequence and at least one bit from at least one of the independent code sequences of the CGU from which an output conditioning circuit can selectively choose based on a desired communication protocol.

Abstract: A rake receiver in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention is configurable by an external agent (e.g., microcontroller, DSP, or state machine) to suit the particular requirements of different spread spectrum systems. In an exemplary embodiment, the receiver includes multiple fingers. Each finger includes a plurality of generic despreaders/descramblers, a plurality of generic dechannelizers coupled to the despreaders/descramblers, and at least one timing estimation controller coupled to the despreaders/descramblers. The finger also includes at least one phase estimation controller, at least one frequency estimation controller, and at least one energy estimation controller all coupled to the generic dechannelizers.

Abstract: A dynamically reconfigurable universal transmitter system is disclosed herein. The electronic device includes multiple transmitter resources for generating transmission signals, an output bus, and an antenna summer coupled to the output bus. The output bus is selectively coupled to the plurality of transmitter resources and it selectively receives transmission signals from the plurality of transmission resources. The antenna summer stores transmission signals received on the output bus.

Abstract: An apparatus for reducing storage requirements and for allowing reuse of multiple rake fingers in a spread spectrum system includes a decimation circuit having an associated decimation factor, a memory coupled to the decimation circuit, and an interpolation circuit having an interpolation factor coupled to the memory. The decimation circuit decimates the sampling rate of received data to produce a decimated rate. The received data is stored in the memory at the decimated rate. The decimated rate is later increased by the interpolation circuit by the interpolation factor when the stored data is retrieved from the memory. The memory is a circular buffer or a single port RAM that is accessible by multiple rake fingers substantially simultaneously via selector circuits.

Abstract: A wireless spread spectrum communication platform for processing a communication signal is disclosed herein. The wireless communication platform includes a first computing element, a second computing element, and a reconfigurable interconnect. The first computing element is coupled to the second computing element via the reconfigurable interconnect. A design configuration of the first computing element is heterogeneous with respect to a design configuration of the second computing element. The reconfigurable interconnect has an uncommitted architecture, thereby allowing it to be configured by an outside source to couple portions of the first reconfigurable interconnect with portions of the second reconfigurable interconnect in a variety of combinations. The first computing element, the second computing element, and the reconfigurable interconnect operable to perform discrete functions suitable for processing of the communication signal.

Abstract: An apparatus for digitally processing signals within wireless communications basestations which includes a channel pooling signal processor and a digital signal processor. The channel pooling signal processor includes a plurality of computation units typically realized in a heterogeneous multiprocessing architecture, a test interface for testing the function of the plurality of the computation units, a general-purpose microprocessor for managing the dataflow into and out of the channel pooling signal processor as well as effecting the control and configuration of the computation units, and an interconnect mechanism for connecting the plurality of computation units to the input, output, test interface, and the general-purpose microprocessor.

Abstract: The present invention provides a virtual machine interface (VMI) and an application programming interface (API) usable in conjunction with a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus comprises a plurality of hardware kernels. The apparatus can be reconfigured to support different or modified communication protocols over time. The VMI comprises a library of software objects. By configuring VMI software objects, a programmer selects the communication protocol used by the reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API of the present invention provides higher level management of the communication protocol used by a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API comprises a library of high level software objects that further abstract hardware details of the apparatus.

Abstract: A method for designing a time-sliced and multi-threaded architecture comprises the steps of conducting a thorough analysis of a range of applications and building a specific processor to accommodate the range of applications. In one embodiment, the thorough analysis includes extracting real time aspects from each application, determining optimal granularity in the architecture based on the real time aspects of each application, and adjusting the optimal granularity based on acceptable context switching overhead.

Abstract: A rake receiver in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention is configurable by an external agent (e.g., microcontroller, DSP, or state machine) to suit the particular requirements of different spread spectrum systems. In an exemplary embodiment, the receiver includes multiple fingers. Each finger includes a plurality of generic despreaders/descramblers, a plurality of generic dechannelizers coupled to the despreaders/descramblers, and at least one timing estimation controller coupled to the despreaders/descramblers. The finger also includes at least one phase estimation controller, at least one frequency estimation controller, and at least one energy estimation controller all coupled to the generic dechannelizers.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention described in the specification and drawings is an apparatus and method of generating a phase-shifted maximum length pseudo-random noise (PN) sequence without resorting to complicated counters and clocking schemes. The apparatus includes a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) that has N stages and the ability to generate a first PN sequence at an output of its last stage. The LFSR is coupled to a first mask circuit and a second mask circuit for generating a second PN sequence and a third PN sequence. The apparatus further includes logic for selectively outputting bits from the second and third PN sequences to form a fourth PN sequence, which has a phase shift relative to the first PN sequence.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for calculating and implementing a Fibonacci mask for a code generator is disclosed herein. The first step receives a desired code offset from a reference code state in a Fibonacci field. Next, a field vector in a Galois field with the same code offset sought in the first field is calculated. In the next step, the first field vector is transformed into a second field vector, which is operable as a mask in the Galois LFSR. The transform step is accomplished by multiplying the Galois field vector by a linear N×N transformation matrix to obtain the Fibonacci field vector. And the N×N transformation matrix is obtained from iterated states of the Fibonacci LFSR.

Abstract: A configurable code generator system (CGS) for spread spectrum applications is disclosed herein. The CGS includes a composite code generator unit (CGU), a global code generator, and an interface that is coupled to the composite code generator and the global code generator. The CGU has multiple independent code generators, each capable of generating an independent code sequence. The global code generator provides a global code sequence for synchronization. The interface has memory that stores at least one bit of the global sequence and at least one bit from at least one of the independent code sequences of the CGU from which an output conditioning circuit can selectively choose based on a desired communication protocol.

Abstract: A fast initial acquisition and search device for a spread spectrum communication system is disclosed herein. The search device includes a memory for storing the first code sequence, and a plurality of computation circuits coupled in parallel to the memory. The search device also includes a plurality of threshold detector circuits. Each of the plurality of threshold detector circuits is respectively coupled to one of the plurality of computation circuits. Each of the plurality of computation circuits implements a unique phase offset for a second code sequence with respect to the first code sequence. A correlation operation is performed in parallel at each of the plurality of computation circuits followed by a threshold evaluation that indicates whether the correlation result satisfied a threshold value.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention described in the specification and the drawings is an apparatus and method for code correlation in spread spectrum communication systems. The apparatus receives a data sequence, and offsets the data sequence with a fixed sub-chip delay. The data sequence and the offset data sequence are each despread with a locally generated code sequence. The despread results are summed and accumulated. The accumulated results may then be used to achieve a lower “miss” probability during code correlation.