WP4: Front-End

Work Package 4

Terminal Front-End Aspects

The purpose of this work package is to optimise in term of size, power consumption and cost the three main parts of DVB-T receivers, i.e. Antennas, Tuners, and Demodulator IC, in order to make them integratable in tomorrow’s nomadic devices (such as convergence PDA’s, smart phones and laptop computers).

Description of work

The work is distributed in three tasks:
Task 1: UHF antennas and diversity
This task will study and deliver two antenna designs: (1) a small portable static antenna design and construction for integration in Laptop PC, and (2) a reconfigurable antenna based on a printed antenna with switching elements able to modify antenna polarization controlled by an small DSP processor to get the maximum value of polarization diversity and for use in phase 2 of INSTINCT.

Task 2: Low power RF front-end and baseband

This task focuses on the development of a module that can be added to a cellular terminal to enable convergence services. It consists in (1) selecting of the most suitable receiver architecture (direct conversion and zero IF or low-IF, (2) partitioning of the system to minimize power consumption using simulations and silicon validation, (3) studying and simulating new algorithms suitable for enhanced DVB-T mobile reception and compensation (without any manual alignment) of the analogue front-end impairments, (4) designing RF and BaseBand ICs integrating the new algorithms and supporting the new architecture, (5) prototyping and testing front-ends integration, and (6) integrating into the full demonstrator developed within WP4 and WP5.

Task 3: DVB-T+/H receiver implementation

This task consisting in validating and architecturing the DVB-H specification at the time of the project starting, for potential implementation and validation within task 2.



	Work Package 4 Terminal Front-End Aspects The purpose of this work package is to optimise in term of size, power consumption and cost the three main parts of DVB-T receivers, i.e. Antennas, Tuners, and Demodulator IC, in order to make them integratable in tomorrow’s nomadic devices (such as convergence PDA’s, smart phones and laptop computers). Description of work The work is distributed in three tasks: Task 1: UHF antennas and diversity This task will study and deliver two antenna designs: (1) a small portable static antenna design and construction for integration in Laptop PC, and (2) a reconfigurable antenna based on a printed antenna with switching elements able to modify antenna polarization controlled by an small DSP processor to get the maximum value of polarization diversity and for use in phase 2 of INSTINCT. Task 2: Low power RF front-end and baseband This task focuses on the development of a module that can be added to a cellular terminal to enable convergence services. It consists in (1) selecting of the most suitable receiver architecture (direct conversion and zero IF or low-IF, (2) partitioning of the system to minimize power consumption using simulations and silicon validation, (3) studying and simulating new algorithms suitable for enhanced DVB-T mobile reception and compensation (without any manual alignment) of the analogue front-end impairments, (4) designing RF and BaseBand ICs integrating the new algorithms and supporting the new architecture, (5) prototyping and testing front-ends integration, and (6) integrating into the full demonstrator developed within WP4 and WP5. Task 3: DVB-T+/H receiver implementation This task consisting in validating and architecturing the DVB-H specification at the time of the project starting, for potential implementation and validation within task 2.