S3 Group and Cognovo to accelerate software modem SoC design

DUBLIN, IRELAND: S3 Group has partnered with Cognovo to provide System-on-Chip (SoC) design services alongside Cognovo’s Modem Compute Engine IP for Software Defined Modem in order to accelerate time to market. S3 Group initially collaborated with Cognovo to create their Software Defined Baseband SoC ‘CDC160’ on Samsung’s 45nm CMOS process technology. This device was showcased recently at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona as the first public demonstration of silicon carrying out LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation.

S3 Group is a global provider of Mixed Signal, Analog, RF and Power Management semiconductor IP solutions and Design Services, whilst Cognovo Ltd spun out of ARM in 2009 to develop and deliver a Software Defined Modem (SDM) platform for use in low power, high volume silicon. The SoC designed by Cognovo and S3 Group is already in use by companies developing software modems for a wide range of wireless communications standards including WiFi, 3G W-CDMA, HSPA+, LTE and LTE Advanced.

The S3 Group contribution to CDC160 ranged from the development of complex digital blocks and full system-on-chip integration and verification to physically implementing the design in silicon. S3 Group’s design, integration and implementation services were delivered on-time and against a very aggressive schedule.

Gordon Aspin, CEO of Cognovo, said: “S3 Group’s input to the SoC design, verification and advanced low power implementation of the CDC160 SoC enabled Cognovo to focus on our core competencies, and ensure we were delivering a market leading solution. We were impressed with how S3 Group took pro-active responsibility for translating our high level requirements into a robust design. They demonstrated a high degree of flexibility and maturity, ensuring that the program was always first priority and proved to be the right choice of partner for us on this project. Based on this shared experience we agreed to partner going forward to accelerate our customers’ design-ins of Cognovo’s Modem Compute Engine within their larger SoCs.”

Dermot Barry, VP Silicon, S3 Group, added: “Introducing new modems for leading edge wireless technologies represents a significant engineering challenge where SoC design and verification is critical to success. Cognovo’s SoC demanded experienced and proven engineering skills and we are pleased that by partnering with Cognovo we will be able to offer these skills to our mutual customers in their future product developments. Cognovo are innovators in developing Software Defined Modem solutions and it is a testament to our 25 years’ experience and domain knowledge that we were chosen to partner with them to design, verify and implement their silicon device.”