Infineon announced that they are working with TerreStar on an SDR platform aimed at satellite-terrestrial handsets operating with multiple cellular and satellite-based communications technologies including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA and GMR1-2G/3G. One year ago TerreStar announced the selection of Infineon’s Commneon IMS Device Framework. This was demonstrated in January 2009 on Elektrobit’s reference design.
Infineon’s SDR mobile platform, called XMM SDR 200, requires only one single baseband device, the X-GOLD™ SDR 20 (spec sheet) and one single RF transceiver, a member of Infineon’s leading SMARTi™ family. As X-GOLD SDR 20 also includes all power management functions on-chip, less than half the number of key components are needed compared to previous modem solutions.
The SDR 20 includes an ARM 1176JZ, DigiRF 3.09 and 3.9, integrated power management, and is built in 65nm technology.Software is available for UMTS through HSDPA class 8 and HSUPA class 6. The chip is software upgradeable to LTE 2×2 MIMO (but apparently only to 5MHz BW according to the spec sheet), 11 a/b/g/n, and DVB.The programming model is threaded C code mapped onto SIMD cores. The spec sheet notes that vector threaded code is assembly language programmed but constitutes less than 8% of the development time.
The announcement did not name the OEM or ODM that is building the phone. TerreStar has an announced relationship with Finnish company Elektrobit. At the 2008 CTIA show Elektrobit announced a phone design for TerreStar. The phone runs on an unusual STN 8815 Nomadik processor, which is a 300 Mhz ARM9 unit. It’s got a 3-megapixel camera, and runs for 4 hours of talk time on 3G networks or about half that on satellite. Elektrobit was looking for OEMs to manufacture the reference design. A datasheet for the device claims 3.5-5 hours talk time on GSM, 3 hours on WCDMA, and up to 1.3 hours on Satellite using a 1400mAh battery. The phone will typically be capable of 64kbps or up to 500kbps near an antenna.
TerreStar also announced in December 2008 an agreement with Qualcomm. Under the agreement, Qualcomm will integrate satellite and cellular communications technology by developing a satellite protocol and including it in the firmware of select upcoming Qualcomm multi-mode baseband chips. Qualcomm also will support the S-Band frequencies-where TerreStar will operate – in select RF processors. The same mobile chipsets forming the heart of handsets and other devices will enable handset vendors to produce satellite-capable devices at comparable scale and cost. The chips will sample in 2010 and support WCDMA, CDMA, and Satellite.
