A Case Study in Performance Estimation and Analysis for SDR: UMTS Data-Link Layer

The evolution of technology in the wireless industry has brought a proliferation of different communication protocols and standards. To support a wider range of services and to sustain technical innovation, protocol interoperability is essential. Software Defined Radio (SDR) is emerging as a key integration technology in this area. Defining the appropriate system architecture for SDR is, however, complex, and requires extensive analysis and performance evaluation. In this paper, we consider UMTS as a case-study of a mobile standard that utilizes several high-layer protocols to enable multiple services delivery for mobile users. We develop a SystemC functional model for a subset of the Data Link Layer for UMTS, and analyze its performance as software running on several architectures. The results are a first step in understanding the system requirements to combine UMTS with other wireless communication protocols, such as WiFi and WiMax.