Object-oriented reconfigurable processing for wireless networks

Abstract

We present an outline of reconfigurable processor technologies and design methods with emphasis on an object-oriented approach and on both full and partial dynamic reconfiguration. A specific, broadly applicable architecture for implementing a software reconfigurable network processor for wireless communication applications is presented; a prototype of which is currently operating in the laboratory. This architecture, with its associated object oriented design methods and partial reconfiguration techniques, enables rapid prototyping and rapid implementation of communications and navigation signal processing functions, provides long-life communications infrastructure and results in dynamic operation within networks with heterogeneous nodes, as well as compatibility with other networks. This work builds upon numerous advances in the commercial industry, as well as military software radio developments, to space-based radios and network processing. The development of such radios and the network processor presented here requires the correct combination of processing methods ("objects") to be defined and appropriate dynamic reconfiguration techniques to be developed as a function of system goals and operating parameters.