DSP-based signal processing for OFDM transmission

A demonstrator for OFDM transmission based on a programmable DSP (TMS320C6201) is described. It turns out that the realized rather moderate sampling rates up to 10 Msamples/s still represent quite a challenge for state-of-the-art DSPs in terms of the required computational power but also the synchronization of the internal processing with the I/O interface to a real-time environment. It is illustrated that SW development under stringent resource constraints requires analysis and partitioning of the algorithms in a manner very similar to the mapping strategies necessary in an ASIC design for either cost-sensitive or extremely challenging applications. Therefore, the demonstrator development provides a sound basis for a subsequent design of such a kind of ASICs.