A low-power memory hierarchy for a fully programmable baseband processor

Future terminals for wireless communication not only must support multiple standards but execute several of them concurrently. To meet these requirements, flexibility and ease of programming of integrated circuits for digital baseband processing are increasingly important criteria for the deployment of such devices, while power consumption and area of the devices remain as critical as in the past.The paper presents the architecture of a fully programmable system-on-chip for digital signal processing in the baseband of contemporary and up-coming standards for wireless communication. Particular focus is given to the memory hierarchy of the multi-processor system and the measures to minimize the power it dissipates. The reduction of the power consumption of the entire chip is estimated to amount to 28% compared to a straightforward approach.