A customer of Xinmai needed to develop a spread spectrum radio transceiver for multiple applications. This customer had already developed a set of algorithms for signal modulation and demodulation but lacked the resources and expertise to build a complete system. The customer wanted to leverage the flexibility advantages of Software Defined Radio (SDR) systems. This article will discuss how to implement this system based on Texas Instruments' OMAP-L138 DSP+ARM processor and FPGA.

Platform

Xinmai chose its XM138F-IDK-V3 embedded system module as the foundation for the SDR because this module not only possesses strong processing capabilities but also saves the customer significant upfront design costs. The XM138F-IDK-V3 module features a TI OMAP-L138 DSP+ARM processor, which integrates a 456MHz ARM9 processing core and a 456MHz TMS320C674x DSP core. In addition, the module also includes an FPGA, NAND and NOR flash memory, and DDR2 memory.

For prototyping considerations, the design utilized TI's high-speed ADC and DAC evaluation kits for radio applications. Additionally, it required data converters capable of operating at a 60MHz sampling frequency.

For the A/D converter, the design selected TI's ADS5562. This converter offers 16-bit precision and can convert at an 80MSPs sampling rate