mobileman: hardware and low-level software

IDe/Apu, 2002.11.04 MobileMAN kickoff, Pisa /32

MobileMANHardware and low-level software

State of the work and outlook

by

Ivan Defilippis & Alessandro PuiattiSUPSI Manno

IDe/APu, 2002.11.04 MobileMAN kickoff, Pisa /32

MobileMAN: hardware and low-level software

• SUPSI

• The MobileMAN problem(s)

• SUPSI-DIE goals in MobileMAN

• State of the Art

• How to begin

• Suggestions and discussion

Contents


MobileMAN: SUPSI

SUPSIUniversity of Applied Sciences of

Southern Switzerland

• since 1999 (before STS, only teaching)• ~1000 students• ~220 work units (350 collaborators)• Main locations:

• Manno• Lugano-Trevano


MobileMAN: SUPSI (2)

Organisation

DAA DIE DEM DLS DCT

ICIMSI IST IDSIA



• Department and Institutes• DAA (Applied Arts)• DCT (Civil Engineering)• DEM (Economics and Management)• DIE (Computer Science and Electrical

Engineering)• DLS (Social work)• IST (Geology, Hydrology, Earth Science)• ICIM (Manufacturing)• IDSIA (Advanced Computer Science)



• Mission• Departments

• Basic education (BS, evt. ME)

• Continuous education• R&D and Technology transfer

• Institutes • Continuous education• R&D and Technology transfer



• DIE R&D context and goals• Technological support for Small and

Medium Industry (SMI)• Innovation in general• Financed through:

• Specific project oriented research programs (EU-FP5, FNSRS, Eureka, …)

• Shared costs projects (KTI/CTI)• Direct industry mandates



• Collaborations and projects (DIE)• EPFL, ETHZ, CSEM• ST (FP5-iTTi, Eureka-Medea+,

agreement), FT, Philips, …• USI (Alari), PoliMi (Proff. Sami, Dadda)• Microswiss Network (NKN)• Local and national companies



• DIE Laboratory of Microelectronics

R&D+TT in eeR&D+TT in cs

LMECompetence center in microeletronics


MobileMAN: The problem(s)

• The trend• The emerging concept of Ambient Intelligence provides a vision

of the information society where the enphasis is on support for human interaction

• Advances in wireless communication will enable a radical new communication paradigm: self-organised information and communication systems “mobile ad hoc networks”

• The project innovation• Immersive communication in a (possibly large) metropolitan area• Autonomous, self-organised, wireless network, potentially built

up solely from user devices• No infrastructure is required to enable information exchange• The only external resource needed bandwidth


MobileMAN: The problem(s) (2)

• Technical limits • IEEE 802.11 is the standard but it is not adequately to manage some

characteristics of ad hoc network:• Dynamic topologies,• Limited bandwidth,• Energy-constrained operations,• Wireless vulnerabilities.

• IEEE 802.11 shows inefficient utilization of the wireless channel with bursty users

• Dynamic configurations generate sever problems when using IEEE 802.11 in multi-hop mobile ad hoc networks

• Technical solution• Enance the standard IEEE 802.11 protocol to increase the protocol

stability and to optimise the power consumption in a high dynamic environment with bursty users


• Provide a development platform for the new protocol• Start with an existing state-of-the-art 802.11a or 802.11b

solution. Modifiy the MAC protocol.• Develop the required software (if necessary choose new

processor: ARM9?, DSP?)

• Provide a small amount of integrated test/demo devices• PC-cards or at least small “portable” systems.

• Contribute to the development of the “new” standard• Contribute to the new 802.11x standard which will be (perhaps)

proposed by the project• Provide guidelines for the hardware development• Provide development system

MobileMAN: SUPSI-DIE project goals


• To develop• Hardware frontend (RF, Base-band and possibly some MAC

low-level parts• Software

MobileMAN: SUPSI-DIE project goals (2)


MobileMAN: State-of-the-art – HW (1)

Technical classification

1) Not integrated: the chip set is achieved by three different chips, MAC, BB and RF

2) Integrated: the chip set is achieved by only one or two chips and the MAC and BB are built in the same chip

3) Development systems: systems produced for the developers

4) OEM products: systems developed with chip set produced by other manufacturer

5) Application: system thought for high level implementation with chip set produced by other manufacturer



Investigated Companies

1) Agere systems 10) Linux-wlan

2) Agilent Technology 11) Mobilian

3) Atheros Comunications 12) Resonext

4) Atmel 13) Synad Technologies

5) Bops 14) Systemonic

6) Bederov 15) Tality

7) DCM Technologies 16) Texas Instruments

8) Envara 17) Virata

9) Intersil



Companies classification

Classification Companies

Not integrated Intersil (Prism-II): suitable complete chipset but no more on the market

Systemonic: only BB doesn‘t have the MAC

Integrated Intersil (other), Atheros, Envara, Mobilian, Texas Instruments, Synad, Atmel

Development systems DCM Tecnologies, BOPS, Tality

OEM products Agere

Application Linux-wlan, Virata



Some examples: Intersil Prism II

Variable data rates

1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps

Frequency band 2,4 2,48 GHz

Categories Not integrated



Some examples: Systemonic Tondelayo1

Variable data rates 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 Mbps

1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps

Frequency band 2,4 2,48 and 5,15 5,825 GHz

Categories Not integrated



Some examples: Intersil Prism Indigo



Categories Integrated



Some examples: Atheros AR5000






Some examples: Texas Instruments TnetW1100B






Some examples: BOPS WirelessRay


1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps

Frequency band 2,4 2,48 and 5,15 5,825 GHz

Categories Development systems



Some examples: Agere

Variable data rates 1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps


Categories OEM products



“Positive” Result of the Investigation

1) DCM Technologies: they could give us all the source, software and firmware, just for $ 150‘000 but third party Phy, (BB and RF), are not included

2) Atheros: ...“I would like to hear more about your research project as well as the parties involved”

3) Amtel: ...“we would need to have a non-disclosure agreement implemented” …” we would also like to know who your partners are andmore details about your project”


MobileMAN: State-of-the-art – SW (1)

MAC software nature calls for hard RT-OS

• Ensure deterministic reaction time• True preemptive task scheduling with task priorities• Memory protection scheme• Provide mechanisms for clean data exchange between

processes (queues, mailboxes, semaphores, …)• Clean task switching with context protection

• Computing power requirements depends of course onchosen HW (from very low to very high)


MobileMAN: State-of-the-art – SW (2)

Solution for software

• “Big” Commercial system (e.g. VxWorks)• Heavy and expensive

• “Small” commercial system (e.g. OnTime)• Inexpensive but not on all processors

• Public domain (open source?) (e.g. µCOS)• Preferable solution; difficult support, problems for evt.

commercial use• Ad-hoc solution

• To be evaluated


MobileMAN: How to begin – HW (1)

1) Totally ad-hoc development: we develop all the system components: MAC, BB, RF

2) Step-by-step development:• First we develop the MAC on a off-the-shelf microcontroller

(e.g. ARM9, TMS320C55,…). We use a commercial chip for the PHY, (BB and RF).

• Develop the PHY only later (follow-on project?)

3) Customization of existing solution: use a chipset which allow MAC customization (reprogram) (e.g. Atheros, Intersil PRISM-Indigo).

Select the strategy


MobileMAN: How to Begin – HW (2)

Totally ad-hoc development

• Advantages• Quick start (tomorrow morning?)• Not affected by manufacturer’s production timetable• Not affected by the market fluctuation• Totally independent from the manufacturer product

• Disadvantages• Too much time to reach the goals• A high risk of failure



Step-by-step development

• Advantages:• Quick start (tomorrow morning?)• Development much more under control• Less time to reach the goals

• Disadvantages:• Affected by Manufacturer’s production timetable• Affected by the market fluctuation• Partially dependent from the manufacturer product



Customization of existing solution

• Advantages:• Very short time to reach our goals• Development totally under control• Time remaining to do something else

• Disadvantages:• Maybe too expensive• Maybe (almost) impossible to have access to the

technology (documentation, tools, support, …)• Affected by Manufacturer’s production timetable• Affected by the market fluctuation• Partially dependent from the manufacturer product


MobileMAN: How to begin – SW

1) Break-down (new) MAC algorithm into hard real-time requiring and not-hard-real-time requiring parts

2) Evaluate (estimate) computing time requirements

3) Define API

4) Depending on the chosen HW, select microprocessor/microcontroller (DSP?) suited for the task

5) Choose development system (tools)

Software development steps

Remark: software analysis and development (low-level parts) may start imediately (don’t wait for BB-RF selection)


MobileMAN: Suggestion and Discussion

• Negotiation with the “interested manufacturers”

• What could we tell about the project and the partners?• What could we negotiate, (technology transfer)?

• Otherwise we suggest the Step by Step solution• Problem: find a manufacturer that provide a BB RF

chipset!

mobileman: hardware and low-level software

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