Powered by TMCnet
 
| More

Cable Technology Feature Article

July 24, 2013

Mobilicom's Wireless Radio Powered by Xilinx's SoC

By Carolyn J Dawson, TMCnet Contributor


Mobilicom has chosen the Zynq-7030 All Programmable System-on-a-Chip or SoC from Xilinx (News - Alert) as the core of its latest MCU-30 software-defined radio or SDR. A broad array of devices, ranging from security cameras to public safety, can deliver broadband connectivity for aid during calamities, monitoring, military and other very important applications using the extremely minute, versatile, embeddable, light-weight and battery-operated wireless radio, the MCU-30 SDR.

The MCU-30 SDR is compatible with the range of multiple-input and multiple-output or MIMO antennas; offering improved multipath performance, multiple functioning frequency bands, on-the-go communication, and multi-hop competence for unlimited communication range. The solution can also be used to deliver flawless communication, irrespective of the location, and independent of any commercial wireless infrastructure.

In a statement, Yossi Segal, vice president of research and development at Mobilicom, said, "The outstanding combination of digital signal processing (DSP) capabilities, ARM (News - Alert) processor-based performance and reprogrammable logic made Xilinx's Zynq-7030 All Programmable SoC the obvious choice as the core of our new MCU-30 SDR. Not only does it meet the programmable systems integration requirements of the MCU-30 SDR, but it has also helped us to speed product development and achieve a lower bill-of-materials (BOM) compared to a multi-chip ASIC or ASSP design. In addition, the exceptionally low power requirements of the Zynq-7030 All Programmable SoC enabled us to maximize battery life, which is especially critical for public safety and other mobile applications."

Mobilicom designers have utilized the Zynq-7030 All Programmable SoC to develop a custom-designed, sophisticated wireless networking protocol, eliminating huge costs and customized ASIC development. The design team has leveraged the Zynq-7030 All Programmable SoC's ARM dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore processing system, with securely coupled programmable logic on a single chip, for developing a sturdy, adjustable extemporized wireless networking protocol using an LTE (News - Alert) PHY and their customized MAC and Layer 2 software.

Yousef Khalilollahi, senior director of business segments for Xilinx, said, "Our success with Mobilicom is another example of the great fit Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoCs provides for public safety radio applications. By integrating processors, DSP and reprogrammable logic onto a single device with small form factor and low power, the Zynq-7000 family is a natural fit for the public safety radio systems design requirements."




Edited by Alisen Downey


blog comments powered by Disqus