Patent Publication Number: US-2010131628-A1

Title: Mobile base station and hardware platform reconfiguring method for the same

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0118303, filed on Nov. 26, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The following disclosure relates to a mobile base station and a hardware platform reconfiguring method for the same, and in particular, to a mobile base station and a hardware platform reconfiguring method for the same, which download software based on a Software Defined Radio (SDR) technique. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Existing mobile base station has supported a specific wireless access standard which is able to support only a limited service, but users now require large-scale services such as video service and other Internet services in addition to the already established audio service. However, it is difficult for providers to replace an existing system in all service regions with a new system capable of providing large-scale service accommodating a frequency bandwidth according to users&#39; requirements. While researches on various technologies for reconfiguring mobile base stations with new systems using existing hardware have been conducted, there are still many limitations. 
     Since a related art mobile base station is configured with components and elements suitable for a specific standard based on the use of fixed hardware, it is radically impossible to reconfigure it with other systems. However, as it will be described below with reference to  FIG. 1 , the related art mobile base station reconfigures a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using a read only memory (ROM) booting scheme, and thus adds a new function to FPGA. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of digital intermediate frequency (IF) transceiver of the related art mobile base station. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the related art digital IF transceiver  100  includes a plurality of ROMs  110 - 1  to  110 - n  (n is a natural number larger than 1) storing programs and data, a switch  120  selectively providing a plurality of paths, and an FPGA  130  processing a digital IF signal. 
     The ROMs  110 - 1  to  110 - n  store the programs used to convert a radio frequency (RF) signal into an IF signal and the programs used to convert a baseband signal into an IF signal. The programs stored in the ROMs  110 - 1  to  110 - n  are selectively provided to the FPGA  130  through the switch  120 , thereby reconfiguring the FPGA  130 . 
     The switch  120  is manually switched by a user to connect the FPGA  130  to any one of the ROMS  110 - 1  to  110 - n.    
     The FPGA  130  is a device processing the digital IF signal, and is connected to any one of the ROMs  110 - 1  to  110 - n  through the switch  120  to download a new program from the connected ROM. 
     Since the FPGA  130  is reconfigured using the ROM booting scheme by a user, service interruption due to the reconfiguration occurs for a long time, and the flexibility of reconfiguration is reduced by the number of ROMs and a physical space of the board. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one general aspect, a mobile base station includes: a Software Definition Radio (SDR) base-station controller controlling a download of a program provided from an external device based on an SDR technique; and a hardware module downloading the program provided from the external device based on the SDR technique according to a control signal from the SDR base-station controller. 
     In another general aspect, a hardware platform reconfiguring method for a mobile base station includes: generating a control signal for controlling a download of a program based on a Software Definition Radio (SDR) technique; receiving a program from an external device; and downloading the program from the external device to a hardware module of the mobile base station based on the SDR technique according to the control signal. 
     Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of digital IF transceiver of a related art mobile base station. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a mobile base station according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an SDR-based transceiving module for describing a hardware platform reconfiguring method for the mobile base station according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwise described, the same drawing reference numerals will be understood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. The relative size and depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience. The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described herein. Accordingly, various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/of systems described herein will be suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for increased clarity and conciseness. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a mobile base station according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the mobile base station  200  includes an SDR base-station controller  210  controlling the transceiving of a signal, an RF transceiver  220  transceiving an RF signal, a digital IF transceiver  230  processing an IF signal, a modem  240  modulating/demodulating a signal, and a wireless resource and medium access controller  250  controlling a wireless resource and a medium access. 
     The SDR base-station controller  210  controls the reception of an RF signal, IF modulation, demodulation of a signal, modulation of a signal and transmission of an RF signal. Particularly, the SDR base-station controller  210  controls the reconfiguration of the digital IF transceiver  230  and the reconfiguration of the modem  240  based on a SDR technique. 
     The RF transceiver  220  transfers an RF signal received through an antenna to the digital IF transceiver  230  according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . The RF transceiver  220  converts an IF signal outputted from the digital IF transceiver  230  into an RF signal to transmit through the antenna according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . 
     The digital IF transceiver  230  converts an RF signal transferred from the RF transceiver  220  into an IF signal to output to the modem  240 , and converts a baseband signal outputted from the modem  240  into an IF signal to output to the RF transceiver  220 , according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . The digital IF transceiver  230  is reconfigured by downloading new software provided from an external device according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . 
     The modem  240  demodulates an IF signal outputted from the digital IF transceiver  220  to output the demodulated baseband signal to the wireless resource and medium access controller  250  according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . The modem  240  also modulates a baseband signal outputted from the wireless resource and medium access controller  250  to output the modulated signal to the digital IF transceiver  230  according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . The modem  240  is reconfigured by downloading new software provided from the external device according to the control of the SDR base-station controller  210 . 
     All the hardware modules of the mobile base station  200  have a communication function to support a middleware standard, and may be reconfigured according to a control signal from the SDR base-station controller  210 . Herein, the hardware modules may be reconfigured with a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) system or the three profiles of an IEEE 802.16d WiMAX system, for example, a 7 MHz profile, a 3.5 MHz profile and a 1.75 MHz profile, according to a desired wireless access standard. Accordingly, all the hardware modules of the mobile base station  200  can be reused. 
     The above-described reconfiguration middleware layer provides the framework where the design pattern of internal system software including a device control program and an application is well used. Moreover, the middleware layer provides a flexible integrated environment between different kinds of hardware and software written with various programming languages. That is, all the software function modules of the mobile base station  200  are respectively defined as a device or a component based on the SDR technique, and the connections of the respective elements of the mobile base station  200  are respectively defined as an interface through a software bus. Since the SDR technique has real-time, flexibility, portability and reconfigurability, it is drawing much attention of international standard institutes such as 3GPP, IEEE, WiMAX Forum and SDR Forum, as the principal technique of a next generation mobile communication system. 
     As described above, an exemplary embodiment proposes a software download approach that installs a software layer, which is standardized by single board unit of the mobile base station  200 , in a processor operating on hardware by function, thereby improving the easiness of reconfiguration. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an SDR-based transceiving module for describing a hardware platform reconfiguring method for the mobile base station according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the digital IF transceiver  230  includes a processor  231  controlling the download of a program provided from an external device  300 , and an FPGA  232  downloading the program provided through the processor  231  based on the SDR technique. 
     Herein, the external device  300  is a large-capacity memory, a large-capacity storage or an Internet server, which stores a plurality of standard programs and a plurality of new version programs. The external device  300  provides a stored program to the processor  231  upon a user&#39;s request. 
     The processor  231  downloads a program, which is provided from the external device  300 , to the FPGA  232  based on the SDR technique according to the control signal from the SDR base-station controller  210 . Herein, the control signal includes a download position of a program, authentication information and a communication system. 
     The processor  231  includes a middleware  231 - 1  and an operating system (OS)  231 - 2 . 
     The middleware  231 - 1  provides a flexible integrated environment between different kinds of hardware and software written with various programming languages. That is, the middleware  231 - 1  provides a flexible integrated environment in order for a program from the external device  300  to be downloaded to the FPGA  232  through the OS  231 - 2 . 
     The OS  231 - 2  downloads a program from the external device  300  to the FPGA  232  according to the control signal from the SDR base-station controller  210  in an integrated environment provided by the middleware  231 - 1 . At this point, the OS  231 - 2  downloads the program from the external device  300  to the FPGA  232  through a host interface. 
     The FPGA  232  is a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) processing a digital signal, and downloads a new program through the processor  231  based on the SDR technique to be reconfigured. 
     The digital IF transceiver  240  includes a processor  241  controlling the download of a program provided from the external device  300 , and a FPGA  242  downloading the program provided through the processor  241  based on the SDR technique. 
     Herein, the external device  300  is a large-capacity memory, a large-capacity storage or an Internet server, which stores a plurality of standard programs and a plurality of new version programs. The external device  300  provides a stored program to the processor  231  upon a user&#39;s request. 
     The processor  241  downloads a program, which is provided from the external device  300 , to the FPGA  242  based on the SDR technique according to the control signal from the SDR base-station controller  210 . Herein, the control signal includes a download position of a program, authentication information and a communication system. 
     The processor  241  includes a middleware  241 - 1  and an OS  241 - 2 . 
     The middleware  241 - 1  provides a flexible integrated environment between different kinds of hardware and software written with various programming languages. That is, the middleware  241 - 1  provides a flexible integrated environment in order for a program from the external device  300  to be downloaded to the FPGA  242  through the OS  241 - 2 . 
     The OS  241 - 2  downloads a program from the external device  300  to the FPGA  242  according to the control signal from the SDR base-station controller  210  in an integrated environment provided by the middleware  241 - 1 . At this point, the OS  241 - 2  downloads the program from the external device  300  to the FPGA  242  through a host interface. 
     The FPGA  242  is a DSP processing a digital signal, and downloads a new program through the processor  241  based on the SDR technique to be reconfigured. 
     Particularly, the reconfiguration method of the mobile base station according to an exemplary embodiment uses an internal bus through an internal processor of each board, thereby reconfiguring the each hardware module at very high speed. 
     A number of exemplary embodiments have been described above. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.