Field Programmable Gate Array and Wireless Communication

3G and 4G wireless systems need a lot of signal processing. Smart phones are very capable and offer a number of features but their main advantage is their wireless infrastructure. Field programmable gate arrays have a major role in supporting the wireless base stations that create the communication network. A field programmable gate array is an integrated circuit that can be configured by the designer or customer after it is manufactured.

There are other things embedded engineers have to worry about too. Like the fact that smart phones need a lot of data bandwidth. It increases the pressure on the communication network. This in turn puts more pressure on the FPGA on which the wireless base station is built. 3G and 4G work also differ in their bandwidth requirement (more in the case of the latter). As the world moves to 4G, we will see additional burden on FPGA circuits.

Embedded developers must take the challenge of designing new FPGA boards, capable of taking this extra load. There are actually many tools to help you to design these new FPGAs. In the process, you can also save a lot of time which you can spend on verifying the algorithm. And once you have mastered the basics, you can move to designing advanced FPGA systems like System on a Chip (SoC) designs.

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