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Altera Teams Up with Virginia Tech Research Group to Develop Next-Generation Wireless Solutionsdate: September 19, 2001 Altera Corporation announced today that it is working with the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG) at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to develop wireless communications technology for manufacturers, government and consumer service providers, and regulatory agencies. By supporting the MPRG, Altera joins other leaders in their respective fields, including Motorola and Nortel Networks. "Altera's cooperation with the MPRG accomplishes several strategic goals," stated Hiro Higuma, director of communications segment marketing. "First, our devices get developed into the next wave of wireless technology products. Second, we gain insight into the future requirements of these products, aiding us in our product planning. Finally, we expose the next generation of engineers in this field to the benefits of System-On-A-Programmable Chip (SOPC) solutions, allowing them take immediate advantage of the industry's leading programmable logic from the start of their professional careers." Several existing MPRG projects rely on Altera products, including those in the areas of W-CDMA transceivers, software-defined radio, and smart antennae. These technologies share a common factor that makes them ideal candidates for programmable logic implementation: they require more flexibility and higher performance than are available in either off-the-shelf application-specific standard products (ASSPs) or custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) W-CDMA is a 3G mobile communications standard offering data speeds to wireless devices that are significantly higher than those offered by the current generation of technology. W-CDMA can support high-speed data transmissions, including voice, images, and data. Once implemented, W-CDMA communications systems are expected to unleash a new generation of information services and entertainment options. Software-Defined Radio Given the evolving state of wireless standards, service providers are seeking cost-effective systems that can be adapted to different protocols (i.e., 2G, 2.5G and 3G standards) and frequency bands so that they can support a wide variety of customers. One technology, called software-defined radio (SDR) provides this capability by implementing protocol- and frequency-specific functions with a programmable, generic platform. SDR systems require high-speed signal processing to realize next generation wireless protocols. They also need the in-field programmability provided by PLDs so they can be altered to support the specific protocols and frequency bands desired by a service provider. "The requirements for high-performance and in-field reconfigurability make programmable logic a good choice for SDR applications," noted Dr. Jeff Reed, head of MPRG. "Altera's products are a significant part of our efforts to realize commercial SDR solutions which are robust as well as cost effective." Smart Antenna Future wireless protocols like 3G will enable high-speed data services, including web browsing and other internet-related activities. However, one of the problems associated with transmitting high data rates over the air is that it can generate interference for other users. One potential solution to this problem is smart antenna technology. However, smart antenna techniques require significant DSP as well as I/O throughput that off-the-shelf DSP processors can't handle. Dr. Jeff Reed stated, "High-performance programmable logic products like those from Altera are the right platform for the DSP tasks in smart antenna applications. In our smart antenna project, Altera programmable logic delivered the high I/O throughput we required, which was not possible using any standard DSP processor. Research has shown us that smart antenna systems like the one we built with Altera's products are going to enable a 400% increase in data throughput in next generation wireless systems."
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