Analysis of Spreadtrum’s 3G Mobile TV Chipset and Its Application Scheme
chrispeng [ad_1]
With the implementation of the three major international 3G standards (TD-SCDMA, WCDMA and CDMA2000) in China, a huge industrial chain centered on operators has been formed. After a period of development, the industrial structure of China’s 3G communications era has begun to take shape. At the same time, China’s mobile TV CMMB industry has also developed rapidly. The network construction and the maturity of the industry chain have made CMMB the world’s largest mobile TV network with network coverage, and the industrial development is beginning to take shape. In March 2010, China Mobile Group announced that it would launch a commercial service integrating TD-SCDMA and CMMB, laying a solid foundation for maximum development with independent intellectual property rights.
In order to support the industrialization of China’s independent intellectual property rights, Spreadtrum Communications Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Spreadtrum”) has made every effort to develop related products and solutions to promote the rapid development of China’s communications industry and broadcasting and television industry. Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) is a third-generation mobile communication standard with China’s independent intellectual property rights promulgated as an international standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Spreadtrum began to launch the industry’s first commercial TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS multi-mode communication baseband chip SC8800 and other series of chips in 2004. China Mobile Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) is an independent intellectual property mobile multimedia broadcasting standard promulgated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television of China as an industry standard. Spreadtrum launched the industry’s first CMMB standard mobile TV single chip SC6600V in May 2008. In addition, Spreadtrum released the world’s first communication RF chip supporting TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/HSDPA at the 2009 World 3GSM Conference. The 3G mobile TV solution based on Spreadtrum’s TD-SCDMA mobile phone baseband chip SC8800, CMMB mobile multimedia chip SC6600V and multi-mode communication radio frequency chip QS3200 not only has the advantages of full function, low cost and Turn Key solution, but also can be developed to support China Independent intellectual property standard product solutions.
Highly integrated, full-featured, low-power communication multimedia TD-SCDMA mobile baseband chip
At present, most of the 3G mobile phone solutions supporting TD-SCDMA are implemented with 5 to 6 core chips. The problems of low integration, high power consumption, and large product area have caused great confusion for terminal manufacturers. From the perspective of TD-SCDMA communication module solutions, many solutions require a TD-SCDMA baseband chip and a TD-SCDMA radio frequency chip, as well as a GSM/GPRS baseband chip and a GSM/GPRS radio frequency chip. From the perspective of multimedia processing module solutions, some solutions still need to add a dedicated multimedia processing (such as MP3MP4) co-processor chip to achieve basic multimedia functions. SC8800 is the industry’s first highly integrated chip that integrates core functional modules such as TD-SCDMA baseband processing, GSM/GPRS baseband processing, and multimedia processing, and realizes a 3G feature phone solution. SC8800 supports HSDPA/TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE multi-mode baseband processing, and supports HSDPA high-speed download function.
The functional structure of SC8800 is shown in Figure 1. The SC8800 is divided into functions mainly including a HSDPA/TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE multi-mode baseband processing unit, a multimedia processing unit, a power management unit, and a wealth of general peripheral interfaces (including external storage controller and display Controller, etc.), each functional module adopts a modular design. The modular design makes the entire chip have very good reliability and flexibility. The main features of this chip are as follows:
Multi-mode communication baseband processing: SC8800 chip supports HSDPA/TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE standards, in terms of 2G standards, it supports quad-band GSM850/EGSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900 and EGPRS Class12. In terms of 3G standards, it supports the TD-SCDMA standard (3GPP version 5) and supports three standard frequency bands: F band (1880-1900MHz), A band (2010-2025MHz) and E band (2320-2370MHz). This communication module fully supports China Mobile’s technical specification requirements for the integration of 2G and 3G.
Powerful multimedia: The SC8800 chip has powerful multimedia processing capabilities, with an embedded video processor for video encoding and decoding, and a multimedia hardware accelerator to enhance image processing capabilities, such as supporting MPEG4 playback at 25fps. In terms of audio, it supports multiple formats of codec, such as MP3/AAC/AAC+ and other music format decoding and polyphonic ringtone processing. It can handle the decoding and playback of common audio sources. The stereo output also adds a lot to the multimedia processing module. In particular, the built-in 2 megapixel digital camera controller can be directly connected to the digital CMOS image sensor to achieve video and camera functions.
Comprehensive LCD screen support: SC8800 supports up to WQVGA resolution (400×240), such as 2.0-inch, 2.4-inch, 2.8-inch, 3.0-inch and 3.2-inch LCD screens, and supports dual-color screens, and integrates an LCD controller and The touch screen controller is convenient for customers to choose more abundant screen types and define more forms of products.
Cost-effective memory support: SC8800 has built-in Nandflash controller and SDRAM/DDR controller, supports NAND booting, and supports mainstream models of NAND+SDRAM MCP. The power supply voltage configuration of NAND FLASH is flexible. Before the system is powered on, it can be configured through STRAPPING, which can be configured to 1.8, 2.65, 2.8, and 3.0V. In terms of power supply, the design is reasonable, using 2.65V power supply for NAND FLASH and 1.8V power supply for SDRAM. NAND FLASH and SDRAM are directly connected to the NAND interface and SDRAM interface of the SC8800 chip respectively. According to needs and market conditions, Memory can choose the most cost-effective MCP (such as 1Gb/512Mb or 512b/256Mb, etc.).
Rich and flexible peripheral interfaces: SC8800 has a wealth of peripheral interfaces, which can not only meet the conventional necessary external devices, such as RF chips, memory chips, etc., but also facilitate external functional third-party devices, such as Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, etc. For conventional interfaces, this chip is designed with built-in USB2.0, SIM/USIM card interface, JTAG interface and real-time clock interface. Regarding the multimedia input and output interface, the audio output can adopt the PCM audio interface output, and the CMMB mobile TV processing can adopt the LCM-IF interface for connection. For extended FM, Bluetooth, G-Sensor and other third-party functional modules, this chip provides UART interface, SPI interface, I2C interface, I2S interface, GPIO interface, SDIO interface for data input and output. The peripheral interface is considered in detail in the architecture of the chip design, and detailed planning has been made for the future development of 3G technology and the possible expanded functions of mobile phones. The rich interfaces provided also meet the expansion of increasingly functional services.
Stable power management: The chip itself integrates a power management unit, which supports power management functions such as standby and power on. In addition, this unit can not only support on-chip power supply, but also realize power supply for off-chip chips, which can be used in some applications In this case, the system power consumption can be greatly reduced. The core voltage of the chip is 1.8V, and the I/O interface voltage is 1.8~3.3V.
Ultra-low power consumption, highly integrated TD-SCDMA communication radio frequency chip
QS3200 is an ultra-low power consumption, highly integrated TD-SCDMA communication radio frequency chip, which can support multiple communication protocol standards including TD-SCDMA, HSDPA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, etc. Because it is a single-chip solution, its volume has reached the smallest specification among similar products, and the total area of printed circuit board (PCB) using Spreadtrum QS3200 can be less than 600 square millimeters. The small size, low power consumption, and multi-standard QS3200 single-chip radio frequency transceiver can greatly improve the receiving, sending and power amplification capabilities of mobile phones.
Highly integrated, low-cost RF solutions: Spreadtrum QS3200 is a single-chip RF transceiver that supports dual-band TD-SCDMA and quad-band EDGE. It adopts CMOS technology production process, low product cost, and the chip is optimized for low-cost 3G design, which can meet today’s small size, low power consumption, and high-performance mobile phone design requirements.
The smallest TD-SCDMA/EDGE RF solution: Spreadtrum QS3200 adopts a 9x9mm QFN64 package. Because it is a single-chip solution, the total PCB area of the QS3200 RF solution can be less than 600 square millimeters.
High-performance RF solutions: Spreadtrum QS3200 supports HSDPA and HSUPA, and its RF performance exceeds all the requirements of the 3GPPTS25.102 standard. The uplink EVM (error vector magnitude) under TD-SCDMAHSPA is less than 3%, and the downlink EVM is less than 5%.
Can support a variety of RF solutions for external main control chips: Spreadtrum QS3200 can support products including Spreadtrum SC8800 series dual-mode baseband and other TD-SCDMA baseband chips. QS3200 uses SPI control interface. Its TD-SCDMA system layer supports two analog I/Q and LVDS interfaces, and the GSM system layer supports analog I/Q interfaces.
Highly integrated, full-featured CMMB mobile TV core chip
At present, most of the chip products that support the CMMB standard are channel demodulation chips, which must be equipped with a source decoding processor chip to complete the source decoding, so as to truly realize the function of mobile TV. SC6600V is the industry’s first high-performance, low-power chip that integrates CMMB demodulation and H.264 source decoding. Its increased integration directly brings benefits such as power consumption and cost reduction, abundant peripheral interfaces, and flexibility. The choice of functions adds value-added space to this chip and expands its application areas.
The functional structure of SC6600V is shown in Figure 1. The functional division of SC6600V mainly includes a high-performance microprocessor, a CMMB demodulator, an audiovisual decoder, a power management unit, and a wealth of general peripheral interfaces (including external storage controllers and display controllers, etc.) ), each functional module adopts a modular design. The modular design makes the entire chip have very good reliability and flexibility. The main features of this chip are as follows:
Abundant peripheral interfaces: The input signal support of SC6600V is the intermediate frequency signal received from Tuner, or the MFS stream after CMMB channel demodulation. Therefore, in addition to supporting intermediate frequency input signals, SC6600V can also support external mainstream CMMB demodulators, providing a flexible input interface. In terms of video output, the decoded video YUV standard output is supported, and it can be directly output to the LCD screen for display. At the same time, it also supports bypassing the video decoder and directly outputting the MFS stream. These two options can be determined according to the different application schemes. The audio output supports I2S interface, and can also be output to the main control chip through SPI. In addition, there are many rich peripheral interfaces that can facilitate the expansion of product applications.
Flexible channel demodulation: The channel demodulation module fully supports the signal transmission and multiplexing specifications of the CMMB standard, and demodulates the intermediate frequency signal into an MFS stream and outputs it to other modules. Within the standard frequency range, the functional modules of the physical layer of the mobile multimedia broadcasting system broadcast channel are realized, and the frame structure, channel coding, modulation technology and transmission instruction information of the physical layer transmission signal of the mobile multimedia broadcasting channel are completed. It can support multiple channel coding and modulation methods to meet the different requirements of different services and different transmission environments on signal quality.
Multi-standard source decoding: The source decoding module supports H.264 video decoding standard and a variety of common audio decoding standards (such as MPEG1 audio layer 1/2, MP3, AAC LC and AAC + (LP), etc.), with the highest sampling rate It can reach 48KHz, the decoding rate can reach up to 320kbps, and it supports dual-channel at the same time. And it is completely possible to realize the support for the new standard by updating the firmware.
Full-featured video post-processing: the display image can support WQVGA, QVGA, CIF and QCIF, etc., and the decoded video can be scaled to adapt to different display screens, so that the hardware supports the chip to the terminal product display screen size The self-adaptation expands the scope of product application. Support three logical layers (background layer, image layer and video layer). Corresponding technical measures have been adopted for image dithering and color correction.
Stable power management: The chip itself integrates a power management unit, which supports power management functions such as standby and power on. In addition, this unit can not only support on-chip power supply, but also realize power supply for off-chip chips, which can be used in some applications In this case, the system power consumption can be greatly reduced. The core voltage of the chip is 1.8V, and the I/O interface voltage is 1.8~3.3V.
Full-featured, highly integrated, low-cost 3G mobile TV solution
The TD-SCDMA industry has gradually matured under the vigorous promotion of China Mobile, and TD-SCDMA terminals have become an important support point for the development of the industry. Various forms of terminals have emerged, such as netbooks, wireless fixed-line phones, data cards, smart phones and functions Mobile phones, etc., among them, the terminal non-functional mobile phones that can develop end users and promote TD-SCDMA services well. On the one hand, the advantages of low cost can be accepted by consumers, and on the other hand, there are a large number of TD-SCDMA services. It can also be integrated on feature phones to facilitate operators to develop 3G services. Among the many feature phone solutions, Spreadtrum’s mobile phone solutions have been recognized by the market with absolute advantages. Spreadtrum has TD-SCDMA communication radio frequency chip QS3200 and baseband chip SC8800, as well as CMMB mobile TV demodulation and decoding chip SC6600V. The three chips and simple peripheral devices can realize a complete TD-SCDMA multimedia mobile TV solution. The high integration of the core chip, fewer peripheral devices, low power consumption, high cost, and full-featured advantages have made the program vigorously promoted.The main features of the program are as follows
The solution is highly integrated and the design is simple: the block diagram of the design solution based on SC8800, QS3200 and SC6600V is as shown in the figure below. Only three main chips realize the TD-SCDMA multimedia function mobile TV solution, and the hardware design of the solution company is convenient.
The software platform is stable and perfect: In order to shorten the design time of customers and enhance their product development capabilities, this solution provides a complete set of drivers and general interfaces for application software, which can provide fast and effective customer software design. At the same time, the general interface and optimization space of product differentiation design are considered. It provides a flexible platform foundation for the expansion of upper-level business functions and the optimization of software.
The underlying software is flexible and stable: The scalability of the product is taken into account in the development of the firmware program. For example, audio decoding can be completed by updating the firmware to support the new standard, and the transmission layer can be replaced by updating the firmware or adding conditional access (CA) Modules, etc. The module driver is well developed. From peripheral interface to baseband processing and channel demodulation, from video decoding to audio decoding, from graphics processing to the integration of third-party hardware function modules, there are stable and complete drivers, which will be used as chip software The library is provided to the user. However, because the development of the underlying software is transparent to the customer’s differentiated design, the underlying software does not have user developability.
Powerful application software expansion performance: Spreadtrum Mocro platform based on real-time operating system (Spreadtrum Mocro platform takes Spreadtrum multi-mode communication chip as its core, and integrates communication software, application software, reference design, development board, development tools and technical support one-stop A complete solution. Based on the MocorTM platform, it can help customers greatly shorten the time to market while pursuing product differentiation. The design concept of standardization and modularization is adopted in the application software, so that new business applications can follow Spreadtrum The company’s standard interfaces are extended on different system platforms. Middleware can be updated and re-expanded, and the software platform of this program has been perfected and scientifically designed for different application product terminals of mobile TV, so that customers’ products can be quickly listed.
Large room for product differentiation design: Although similar products have not yet flooded the market, Spreadtrum has already considered product differentiation in the software design of this solution. For different users, it can provide a differentiated application platform, flexible GUI design, and support for different conditional access (CA or MBBMS). This solution will provide customers with a complete set of SDKs, from the underlying driver/firmware to the adaptation layer software/API, to middleware and application software for different terminal products.
Summary of this article
At present, the functions of the TD-SCDMA feature mobile phone TV program can basically only be implemented on expensive smart phones, and the chip solution of this program allows mobile phone manufacturers and operators to organically combine mobile phone TV services with 3G technology and push it to the mainstream. In the feature phone market, more services such as TV-on-demand and multicast will be introduced. With the successful research and development of this solution, Spreadtrum will provide the industry with a full range of complete TD-SCDMA mobile TV terminal solutions, and promote 3G mobile TVs to enter the mass market, thereby meeting the commercial needs of 3G mobile TV services.
[ad_2]
