A 2.15GBit/s turbo code decoder for LTE advanced base station applications

The LTE standard [1], will soon be upgraded to LTE advanced, which will add new techniques like multi user MIMO using iterative demodulation, cooperative multi point reception (CoMP) and beam forming to increase the system throughput in the uplink of one cell. An eNodeB supporting multiple cells will require a throughput of multiple GBit/s. Thus a turbo code decoder with a very high throughput target while maintaining an excellent communications performance is required. The major challenge is the support of very high code rates and the stringent latency requirements. We present the first LTE advanced compliant LTE turbo code decoder with a throughput of 2.15GBit/s at frequency of 450MHz and area of 7.7mm2 in a 65nm process node with worst case P&R constraints. The decoder can perform 6 full iterations at a large window size of 192 at full throughput, which results in a highly competitive communications performance.