Low power, programmable modem for software defined radio applications

A modem device reconfigurable to support communication using different communication technologies, the modem device comprising:

• a plurality of communication processing modules;
• and
• a switching interface comprising a switching fabric, the switching interface coupling the plurality of communication processing modules;
• wherein an instruction set written into the modem device is configured to select one or more communication processing modules of the plurality of communication processing modules to connect using the switching interface thereby defining a modem configuration to process a communication signal, wherein one or more of a selected communication processing modules are not powered down based on being selected by the instruction set, wherein the plurality of communication processing modules are powered down when not selected in the instruction set.

A modem device reconfigurable to support communication using different communication technologies, the modem device comprising:

• a plurality of communication processing modules;
• and
• a switching interface comprising a switching fabric, the switching interface coupling the plurality of communication processing modules;
• wherein an instruction set written into the modem device is configured to select one or more communication processing modules of the plurality of communication processing modules to connect using the switching interface thereby defining a modem configuration to process a communication signal, wherein the instruction set further selects a transmission path defined from the switching interface to interconnect the selected one or more communication processing modules, wherein one or more of a selected communication processing modules are powered based on being selected by the instruction set, wherein the plurality of communication processing modules are not powered when not selected by the instruction set.

A communication node, the node comprising:

• a receiver, the receiver configured to receive a communication signal;
• and
• a modem, the modem configured to process the received communication signal, the modem being reconfigurable to support communication using different communication technologies and comprising:
• a plurality of communication processing modules;
• and
• a switching interface comprising a switching fabric, the switching interface coupling the plurality of communication processing modules;
• wherein an instruction set written into the modem is configured to select one or more communication processing modules of the plurality of communication processing modules to connect using the switching interface thereby defining the modem configuration to process the received communication signal, wherein the defined modem configuration uses less than three watts of power, wherein one or more of a selected communication processing modules are not powered down based on being selected by the instruction set, wherein the plurality of communication processing modules are powered down when not selected by the instruction set.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for a modem device being reconfigurable to support communication using different communication technologies, the computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon the instructions comprising:

• causing the modem to receive a selection of one or more communication processing modules from a plurality of communication processing modules, the one or more communication processing module selected to implement a modem configuration upon execution by a processor;
• causing the modem to define a transmission path in a switching interface including a switching fabric to connect the selected one or more communication processing modules upon execution by the processor;
• and
• causing the modem to create an instruction set including the selected one or more communication processing modules and the defined transmission path upon execution by the processor;
• causing the modem to wherein writing the created instruction set into the modem device defines the modem configuration to process a communication signal, wherein the instruction set causes the processor to further select a transmission path defined from the switching interface to interconnect the selected one or more communication processing modules, wherein one or more of a selected communication processing modules are powered based on being selected by the instruction set, wherein the plurality of communication processing modules are not powered when not selected by the instruction set.