Open Source framework for commercial baseband software project initiated by Wireless Innovation Forum members

WASHINGTON, USA: The Wireless Innovation Forum (SDR Forum version 2.0), a non-profit organization dedicated to driving the future of radio communications and systems worldwide, announced a new project focused on reducing cost and time to market in deploying 3G and 4G, “3G+” systems, including: Fixed WiMAX (802.16d), Mobile WiMAX (802.16e), WiMAX-Advanced (802.16m), LTE™ (3GPP Release 8) and LTE-Advanced (3GPP Release 10).

The "Open Source Framework for Commercial Baseband Software" is being started by the Forum’s Commercial Baseband Processing Work Group, chaired by Dr. John Glossner of Optimum Semiconductor Technologies and Alexander Chemeris of Fairwaves. This framework is being created for commercial companies and research institutions who need to reduce the development or acquisition costs of their baseband modem designs. This segment includes handset manufacturers, baseband chipset companies, baseband IP providers and 3G+ test and verification manufacturers who work with 3G and 4G baseband software.

“The entire wireless industry will benefit dramatically from this open-source, commercially friendly Framework,” noted Dave Kelf of Sigmatix, who is the task lead for this important new project. “Our objective for this development is to provide commercial 3G/4G air interface reference models, within a high performance design infrastructure, to expedite development of baseband designs while allowing framework users to focus on their areas of differentiation.”

It is anticipated that the development of this framework will result in three separate deliverables, as follows:

* An open-source C/C++ based framework for 4G baseband PHY layers, with possible extensions to upper layers. This will be powerful and flexible enough to serve as a base for reconfigurable commercial 3G/4G wireless communication systems. The initial target is modems and handsets, with base stations considered as a possible later target.

* A baseband system reference design for one or several 3G/4G protocols, written using a high level mathematical analysis tool, and an implementation of those on top of the C/C++ framework targeted initially for handsets.

* An Open C-based language or format, together with an open methodology which may include open source tooling, to promote high performance, portable SDR programming.

This activity is completely member driven and the actual set of deliverables will depend on the received contributions and activity of the participating parties. I.e. more deliverables may be included if participants show interest in developing them.

Development of this project is anticipated to follow an open source model allowing free participation by the development community, with the Commercial Baseband Processing Work Group acting as the steering group for the project to oversee development and release schedules. This steering group will also be responsible for documenting IPR issues associated with the code releases.