Comsys Unveils Novel Architecture for W-CDMA base-band Intellectual Property

LiteCore™ Enables Chip Vendors to Produce Lower Cost 3G Chips

Paris - UMTS MI Show 3 October 2002: Comsys Communications & Signal Processing Ltd., a leader in physical layer solutions for emerging cellular standards, today unveiled its W-CDMA base-band IP for 3G handsets, based on its new LiteCore™ processor. Comsys will demo a working system at booth B66 at the UMTS-Mobile Internet Conference in Paris, France, 3-4 October 2002.

In a radical departure from other designs, Comsys engineered its W-CDMA solution to complete most of its processing on a DSP. Comsys’ architecture is centered on a custom processor developed specifically to perform chip-rate processing in mobile handsets. By using the miniaturized Litecore and compressing a vast majority of processing onto a DSP core, Comsys reduced the size of the dedicated logic to approximately 10 percent of other designs. This division, or partitioning, between the DSP and the dedicated logic hardware section, enables chip vendors to minimize the total die-size of the base-band chip thereby reducing chip prices as well as optimizing the power consumption for voice services.

“A vast majority of today’s network traffic is voice-based. Comsys believes that this will continue to be the case over newer 3G networks and that 64kbps or 128kbps will suffice for applications serving the bulk of users, as well,” commented Comsys CEO Dr. Eli Plotnik. “Thus, we see W-CDMA as a technology that will add capacity to GSM networks that are quickly becoming constricted. Comsys’ W-CDMA solution fills a growing need to provide realistic data rates that support realistic applications, rather than follow other players who are focused on achieving high data rates at higher cost to both the consumer and the network operator.”

Comsys L1 W-CDMA solution integrates the DSP and the micro-controller for optimal processing capabilities. This enables silicon vendors to quickly and with less effort integrate Comsys’ W-CDMA IP into existing platforms and enter the W-CDMA market with a new integrated chip.
Plotnik continued, “Comsys aims to make the migration as easy as possible for players joining the 3G arena. Our experience having sold to silicon vendors in the past teaches us that the trend to purchase external IP will grow for 3G, too.”

LiteCore™ Architecture
Comsys’ LiteCore design fulfills three objectives: low cost, low power consumption and system-level design.
Low cost solution is achieved by minimizing the die-size, both by a super-small chip-rate processor and by minimizing memory. Reducing the complexity of much of the processing that was done on the DSP, the chip-rate processor requires a fraction of the gate-count that other solutions demand.

Power consumption is optimized for low bit rates. Since most users will utilize voice-based services that employ low-rate scenarios - the reduction in power consumption is substantial.

System-level design is optimized from the start. System issues such as timing-critical functions including power control loops and support for multi-mode were designed into the architecture.

About Comsys Communications & Signal Processing
Comsys Communications and Signal Processing Ltd, a privately held company, is enabling the next generation voice and data over cellular networks. Comsys develops and integrates physical layer solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s wireless standards - including: GSM, GPRS, EGPRS (EDGE) and W-CDMA. Its intelligent baseband processing solutions enable silicon vendors, handset manufacturers, laptop producers, cellular modules (e.g. PCMCIA cards) developers and base stations manufacturers to significantly reduce cost and time to market and create a new horizon for voice and data over cellular applications. Founded in 1995, Comsys headquarters and R&D facilities are in Herzelia, Israel.