Mobile Handset Design

17

Competitive Edge in Mobile Phone System Design

17.1 Introduction

In the previous chapters, we discussed the various aspects and internal details of mobile phones. In this chapter we will discuss the system design issues of a mobile phone. Today's mobile handset system is not just a piece of hardware or a bunch of software; rather, it is a combination of both hardware and software. In the present competitive market the key factors to success are designing a system that can work with minimum resources (such as memory size, MIPS, etc.) and can offer high performance in terms of execution speed, low power consumption, high robustness, and reliability. It is not always a big deal to write a piece of software to work on a system to be logically correct, but it is a really big deal to write a piece of software that will work in an environment with limited resources (such as memory, MIPS) with greater speed of operation and that is logically correct, and so this is a real challenge. This chapter examines various factors contributing towards the development of a competitive mobile phone hardware and software protocol stack. Both technical and non-technical aspects are considered. The key issues addressed include protocol architecture, system performance in terms of memory, CPU, operating system (OS), electrical power consumption, processing power (MIPS), cost, optimum hardware/software partitioning, testing, and productization.

17.2 Key Challenges in Mobile Phone System Design

The key ...