Object-oriented reconfigurable processing for wireless networks

We present an outline of reconfigurable processor technologies and design methods with emphasis on an objectoriented approach, and both full and partial dynamic reconfiguration. A specific broadly applicable architecture for implementing a software reconfigurable network processor for wireless communication applications is presented; a prototype of which is currently operating in the laboratory. This architecture, its associated object oriented design methods, and partial reconfiguration techniques enable rapid-prototyping and rapid implementations of communications and navigation signal processing functions; provide long-life communications infrastructure; and result in dynamic operation within networks with heterogeneous nodes, as well as compatibility with other networks. This work builds upon numerous advances in commercial industry as well as military software radio developments to space-based radios and network processing. The development of such radios and the network processor presented here require defining the correct combination of processing methods (“objects”) and developing appropriate dynamic reconfiguration techniques as a function of system goals and operating parameters.