Choice of Reference Design Board

Choice of Reference Design Board

[Steve Mueller]

Hi,

I'm a network enthusiast. I've worked with GSM for the last 2 years. I've
written my own GMSK decoder, bit error correction, and frame decoder. I've
used the USRP (www.ettus.com) as a receiver.

I'm excited about the capability of the OMAP. I would like to do some
development on a OMAP reference board. I've a hard time finding one
that gives me access to layer1 gsm frames.

I saw the OMAP1510/5910 and OMAP5912 starter kits. The description does
not explain the level of access to the GSM data.

I think the OMAP730 would be best for me but I can not find a place to
get one of the reference design platform (P2).

Can somebody point me into the right direction?


thanks for helping,

Steve Mueller

RE: Choice of Reference Design Board

[Woodruff, Richard]

> I'm a network enthusiast. I've worked with GSM for the last 2 years. I've
> written my own GMSK decoder, bit error correction, and frame decoder. I've
> used the USRP (www.ettus.com) as a receiver.
> 
> I'm excited about the capability of the OMAP. I would like to do some
> development on a OMAP reference board. I've a hard time finding one
> that gives me access to layer1 gsm frames.
> 
> I saw the OMAP1510/5910 and OMAP5912 starter kits. The description does
> not explain the level of access to the GSM data.
> 
> I think the OMAP730 would be best for me but I can not find a place to
> get one of the reference design platform (P2).
> 
> Can somebody point me into the right direction?

You will find there are a few OMAP variants.  Many are used in phones.  

On high end phones the chip set usually consists of 2 chips, an application processor and a modem processor.  The data you are looking for generally passes over some chip to chip link.  This link varies per vendor.  It might be on uart, usb, ssi, shared external memory...

On lower or mid phones you might find the app and modem are controlled from the same chip (either on 1 core, or some kind of multi-core, on 1 chip).  If its multi-core it is similar to the above but likely just shares via internal memory and some mailbox, but could be other.  You probably won't find as may single core ones in Linux as there are GPL worries for vendors.  There is some active research in virtualization as a way to try and address that.

For lower cost platforms you can get the OSK series.  TI also has other references platforms but are harder to get and cost more.  If you can wait a couple months you will likely see several low cost platforms starting to come out which may suit your itches much better.

Regards,
Richard W.

Re: Choice of Reference Design Board

[Steve Mueller]

Hi,

I found the OMAP 5912 OSK but it does not seem to come with any
GSM capability. The diagram does not show a GSM baseband chip and the
picture of a board does not show a plug for the antenna or a sim socket.

The OMAP 730 Reference Design Platform (P2) seems to have all this.
It is currently only available to handset manufacturers (correct?).

Unfortunately I'm not a handset manufacturer. I'm an independent developer
fascinated by GSM and the OMAP. Is there any way I can purchase a P2 from
TI or from a TI partner?

I'm happy to buy one second hand. If anyone on here is selling one
or can give me some tips it would be appreciated.

thanks for getting me started,
regards,

Steve Mueller

> 
> You will find there are a few OMAP variants.  Many are used in phones.  
> 
> On high end phones the chip set usually consists of 2 chips, an application processor and a modem processor.  The data you are looking for generally passes over some chip to chip link.  This link varies per vendor.  It might be on uart, usb, ssi, shared external memory...
> 
> On lower or mid phones you might find the app and modem are controlled from the same chip (either on 1 core, or some kind of multi-core, on 1 chip).  If its multi-core it is similar to the above but likely just shares via internal memory and some mailbox, but could be other.  You probably won't find as may single core ones in Linux as there are GPL worries for vendors.  There is some active research in virtualization as a way to try and address that.
> 
> For lower cost platforms you can get the OSK series.  TI also has other references platforms but are harder to get and cost more.  If you can wait a couple months you will likely see several low cost platforms starting to come out which may suit your itches much better.
> 
> Regards,
> Richard W.
> 

RE: Choice of Reference Design Board

[Woodruff, Richard]

Hi,

> I found the OMAP 5912 OSK but it does not seem to come with any
> GSM capability. The diagram does not show a GSM baseband chip and the
> picture of a board does not show a plug for the antenna or a sim socket.

Yes that design was targeted elsewhere and came out of our catalog group.

Designs from the wireless group usually have some way to get a modem in the picture.

The high end chips might have a socket to add a modem, where the lower end ones have a modem on it.
 
> The OMAP 730 Reference Design Platform (P2) seems to have all this.
> It is currently only available to handset manufacturers (correct?).

I'm not sure of how these are gotten, inside of TI it's a link.  There are a few which fit this P2, F-Sample, G-Sample, ...

> Unfortunately I'm not a handset manufacturer. I'm an independent developer
> fascinated by GSM and the OMAP. Is there any way I can purchase a P2 from
> TI or from a TI partner?

I'll pass your mail on and see what the answer is today for the legacy platforms.

As I was saying before, I know of suitable platforms which should be coming and that may be the best.  However, it will be a bit before details are available.

Regards,
Richard W.

> >
> > You will find there are a few OMAP variants.  Many are used in phones.
> >
> > On high end phones the chip set usually consists of 2 chips, an
> application processor and a modem processor.  The data you are looking for
> generally passes over some chip to chip link.  This link varies per
> vendor.  It might be on uart, usb, ssi, shared external memory...
> >
> > On lower or mid phones you might find the app and modem are controlled
> from the same chip (either on 1 core, or some kind of multi-core, on 1
> chip).  If its multi-core it is similar to the above but likely just
> shares via internal memory and some mailbox, but could be other.  You
> probably won't find as may single core ones in Linux as there are GPL
> worries for vendors.  There is some active research in virtualization as a
> way to try and address that.
> >
> > For lower cost platforms you can get the OSK series.  TI also has other
> references platforms but are harder to get and cost more.  If you can wait
> a couple months you will likely see several low cost platforms starting to
> come out which may suit your itches much better.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Richard W.
> >
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