Communications systems are defined around the concept of a hierarchical protocol stack. Although the higher layers are already developed purely in software, the lower layers are not. Layer 1 combines real-time control with time critical signal processing in order to interface with and manage the physical connection to the Radio Access Network (RAN). The real-time and real-world nature of Layer 1 largely defines the requirements for baseband silicon and embedded software.


Cognovo's SDM technology addresses this with four elements:

• Real-time control of the Physical Layer device (baseband chip) is supported by the SDMOS and ARM based control plane.
• Time-critical sub-frame sequencing is managed by a deterministic Sequence Processor, itself driven by a programmable on-air derived timebase.
• Signal processing algorithms are executed in software - without the need for hardware acceleration - by the designed-for-wireless Ardbeg Vector Signal Processor (VSP).
• A full system design flow with supporting tools is provided by the Kernel SDK and System SDK to provide experienced modem design engineers with a familiar design environment.