Abstract
Rohill Engineering designs, develops, produces, and sells systems
and products for professional mobile telecommunication. The company is
focused exclusively on the professional mobile communications market.
The products are sold through agents (assistance during sales phase only),
OEM / consultancy and distributors / system integrators.
The product portfolio includes trunked radio systems, hand portables,
and mobiles for trunked mobile radio operation, and peripheral equipment
for trunked radio systems and conventional radio systems. The application
for these systems and equipment can be divided in security applications
(police, fire brigade, ambulance), utilities (electricity, gas and water
suppliers), transport and industry (industrial estates, chemical factories).
The AE (Application Experiment) is related to an application within the
infrastructure of trunked radio systems. An FPGA has been developed, which
is used to perform switching, routing and multiplexing/demultiplexing
of speech and data streams. These streams of speech and data are transferred
using modem and ISDN technology, and replaces the existing software solution.
The FPGA based product allows Rohill to sell and build significant larger
infrastructures for trunked radio systems than was possible with the current
product. Furthermore, it will enhance their competitive position when
customers consider (future) expansion of existing networks.
The project was exeuted in the planned duration of 16 months excluding
reporting. However, due to market changes during the project an FPGA solution
was produced rather than an ASIC. The original budget of 117 kEURO was
therefore reduced to 97 kEURO. It will cost a further 400KEURO to productionise
the unit. It is estimated that the AE investment for this project will
be paid back within a year. The ROI, assuming a 5 year product life cycle,
will be 16 times the AE investment.
The AE has provided Rohill with the knowledge and experience for designing
FPGA using VHDL, as well as the steps that have to be performed to realise
these components. Although the end-result is a FPGA, a gate-array as well
as a standard-cell ASIC has been considered as alternatives. This could
become important if the quantities rise significantly. During the AE,
Rohill managed to solve a wide range of problems, especially related to
the correct use of the CAE software. They also learnt that it is more
effective, in the long term, to get expert advise and training in VHDL
and FPGA design rather than trying to follow the self taught route.
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| You can also benefit from microelectronics
FPGA, VHDL technology provided Rohill Engineering B.V. with the means
of improving its products and enhancing its market position. You can also
achieve significant benefits by acquiring the right microelectronics technology
and utilising it in your product or manufacturing process. You can get
help from FUSE to realise this.
FUSE is a technology transfer programme, funded by the European Commission to stimulate the wider use of microelectronics technologies by European enterprises to increase their competitiveness and enhance their economic growth. The demonstrator described here is one of many examples in the public FUSE portfolio covering the whole spectrum of microelectronics technologies and spanning a wide range of applications and industry sectors.
FUSE provides you with:
- Best practice in acquiring specific microelectronics technologies and conducting full development projects through the FUSE portfolio of real life demonstrator documents.
- Local training and expert support to plan your innovation realistically and help you conduct your project successfully.
Further information and support relating to this and other demonstrators can be obtained from the addresses below. |
