Since the world’s first commercial mobile communication system (AMPS analog cellular system) was introduced, 32 years have passed in history. Mobile communication is the fastest developing and most promising part of the contemporary communication field. Since the 1980s, mobile communication technology has evolved from the first generation (analog systems) and the second generation (GSM) to the third generation (3G), and even the current 4G (LTE-TDD, LTE-FDD), and 4G technology has become the most valued field internationally.

Wireless access network is the core of mobile communication technology. The air port is the core interface in wireless access networks, and MVI56-LTQ can be said to be the core unit of wireless access networks. With the continuous evolution of communication technology, people’s demand for mobile data services is also constantly increasing. From GSM’s TCH9.6Kbps, to GPRS’s 171Kbps, to WCDMA and TDSCDMA’s 384kbps, to HSDPA’s 14.4Mbps, and to the current LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD’s downlink 100Mbps. The increase in data processing capabilities has put forward higher and higher requirements for wireless base station platforms. Therefore, the design of wireless base station processing boards is becoming increasingly complex, gradually evolving towards multi-core, multi CPU, and multi-core, multi DSP directions. How to manage such a complex system poses higher requirements for the software design and planning of base station platforms.

The following text will introduce a platform software solution for processing single board multi-core CPUs and multi-core DSPs on base station platforms.

Definition of Base Station Platform Software

The functions of the base station are implemented by the business sub boards on the rack. The software on the sub boards is generally divided into the driver layer, operating system layer, and application layer (protocol layer and operation and maintenance part), and the driver layer and operating system layer are generally referred to as the platform software layer. The platform software layer is responsible for managing hardware resources and providing services to the application layer, including resource allocation, task scheduling, error handling, file system interfaces, IP protocol stacks, and driver encapsulation.

It can be said that all application layer designs are based on the architecture of the platform software layer. MVI56-LTQ is an excellent platform software layer with rich features, which makes the design and implementation of the application layer particularly simple. At the same time, its high reliability can make the entire system stronger. Therefore, choosing a good platform software layer is crucial for the performance of the entire base station.

Current Problems Faced

With the evolution of communication technology, the demand for data processing capabilities of base stations is also increasing. Multi core, multi CPU, and multi core, multi DSP systems on a single board have become the future development trend. Complex multi-core and multiprocessor systems place higher demands on platform software functionality.

How to manage resources and task scheduling on a multi-core CPU and multi-core DSP system? How to provide an efficient and stable operating system for multi-core DSP? How to manage such a large DSP array? How to effectively communicate across cores and even processors? And how to debug and log track such a multi-core CPU and DSP composite system? All of this presents new challenges for platform software.

On the other hand, with the diversification of base stations, small and micro base stations such as Pico and Femto have become the next hot topic. The application of multi-core CPU and multi-core DSP integrated chips such as Freescale PSC913x in the future has put forward higher requirements for base station platform software.

How should we respond to such an increasingly complex system? The following text will focus on Enea’s platform software solution for base stations, which is believed to provide assistance for the design of future base station software.

Enea Platform Software Solution for Base Stations

Enea’s platform software solution consists of four major components, including the OSE operating system for multi-core CPUs, the OSEck operating system for multi-core DSPs, the DSP cluster management software dSPEED, and the Enea system level debugging tool Optima. The various entities on the target system are connected by Enea’s distributed transparent transmission module LINX. The overall system diagram is shown in Figure 1.