Metanoia Communications has licensed Cadence's Tensilica ConnX 230 DSP for its new software-defined radio (SDR) RF front end silicon chip platform.
Today’s O-RAN communications systems use SDR in RF front-end replacing analog fixed hardware for the benefit of enhanced versatility, cost-efficiency, and the ability to quickly integrate new communication standards. Metanoia's new SDR platform employs ConnX 230 DSP for its high-performance and low-power capabilities to meet the demanding requirements of modern communication systems.
Key Features of the ConnX 230 DSP
- High Performance: Supports 5G low-PHY-baseband algorithms, enabling 4T4R (four transmitter and four receiver antennas) configurations for high data throughput.
- Flexibility: Easily implements new communication protocols, a key feature for SDR applications.
- Advanced Processing: Utilizes multiple ConnX 230 DSPs to achieve impressive 4x4 MIMO high-performance features, meeting the data throughput requirements of 5G protocols.
Advancements in 5G Technology
Metanoia's latest-generation product, announced at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2025, harnesses the combined power of both CPU and DSP technology. This platform implements a complete 5G low-PHY-baseband software stack, significantly improving overall performance and paving the way for future 6G standards.
For Metanoia's use case, this included 5G data format packet parsing, implementing low-PHY baseband algorithms and leveraging a rich suite of software libraries to compute the fast Fourier transform (FFT) function, parse network control packet formats, and manage data channel processing.
Optimizing Design Efficiency
Metanoia's evaluation of the ConnX 230 DSP highlighted the ease and flexibility of Tensilica Instruction Extensions (TIE) for crafting custom instructions, enhancing the functionality of the SoC. By harnessing TIE, Metanoia fixed performance bottlenecks and achieved highly efficient and energy-saving SoC design. This innovation enabled them to reduce the area by nearly 50%, all while maintaining exceptional performance.
