Pipeline architecture for multi-slot wireless link processing

1. A method for processing N Radio Frequency (RF) bursts contained within N slots of a digital communications time divided frame, wherein N is a positive integer greater than one, the method comprising:

for a first RF burst of the N RF bursts:

pre-equalization processing a first baseband signal to produce a first processed baseband signal; and

equalizing the first processed baseband signal to produce a first plurality of soft decisions after the pre-equalization processing of the first baseband signal is completed;

for each of a second through N th RF burst:

pre-equalization processing a current baseband signal to produce a current processed baseband signal while equalizing a prior processed baseband signal to produce a prior plurality of soft decisions; and

equalizing the current processed baseband signal to produce a current plurality of soft decisions while post-equalization processing the prior plurality of soft decisions; and

post-equalization processing the N th plurality of soft decisions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the baseband signal is a digitized signal comprising a plurality of samples.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a modulation format of the baseband signal; and

equalizing the processed baseband signal based upon the determined modulation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determined modulation is selected from at least Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation and Eight Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

equalizing a GMSK modulated processed baseband signal employs Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) equalization; and

equalizing an 8PSK modulated processed baseband signal employs Maximum A posteriori Probability (MAP) equalization.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

soft decision scaling factor processing; and

matched filter processing.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

equalizer coefficient calculation;

pre-equalization processing; and

soft decision scaling factor processing.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein post-equalization processing includes at least one operation of the following operations:

phase averaging of a plurality of soft decisions; and

frequency estimation and tracking.

9. A method for processing N Radio Frequency (RF) bursts contained within N slots of a digital communications time divided frame, wherein N is a positive integer greater than one, the method comprising:

for each of the N RF bursts, receiving a corresponding baseband signal;

for at least one of the N RF bursts, pre-equalization processing a corresponding baseband signal to produce a processed baseband signal without concurrently equalizing any processed baseband signal;

for at least one of the N RF bursts, pre-equalization processing a corresponding baseband signal to produce a processed baseband signal while concurrently equalizing a processed baseband signal corresponding to a prior RF burst to produce soft decisions; and

for at least one of the N RF bursts, post-equalization processing soft decisions corresponding to a prior RF burst while concurrently equalizing a processed baseband signal corresponding to the RF burst.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the baseband signal is a digitized signal comprising a plurality of samples.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a modulation format of each corresponding baseband signal; and

equalizing a corresponding processed baseband signal based upon the determined modulation.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determined modulation is selected from at least Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation and Eight Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

equalizing a GMSK modulated processed baseband signal employs Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) equalization; and

equalizing an 8PSK modulated processed baseband signal employs Maximum A posteriori Probability (MAP) equalization.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

soft decision scaling factor processing; and

matched filter processing.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

equalizer coefficient calculation;

pre-equalization processing; and

soft decision scaling factor processing.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein post-equalization processing includes at least one operation of the following operations:

phase averaging of a plurality of soft decisions; and

frequency estimation and tracking.

17. A wireless communication device for processing N Radio Frequency (RF) bursts contained within N slots of a digital communications time divided frame, wherein N is a positive integer greater than one, the wireless communication device comprising:

a RF front end that is operable to receive the plurality of received RF bursts and to convert the RF bursts to corresponding baseband signals;

a baseband processor operably coupled to the RF front end that is operable to receive the baseband signals and to pre-equalization process the baseband signals to produce processed baseband signals and to post-equalization process soft decisions;

an equalizer module operably coupled to the baseband processor that is operable to equalize the processed baseband signals to produce the soft decisions; and

wherein the baseband processor and the equalizer module are operable as a pipeline such that:

for at least one of the N RF bursts, the baseband processor performs pre-equalization processing of a corresponding baseband signal to produce a processed baseband signal while the equalizer module concurrently equalizes a processed baseband signal corresponding to a prior RF burst to produce soft decisions; and

for at least one of the N RF bursts, the baseband processor performs post-equalization processing of soft decisions corresponding to a prior RF burst while concurrently equalizing a processed baseband signal corresponding to the RF burst.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein the baseband signal is a digitized signal comprising a plurality of samples.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein:

the baseband processor is further operable to determine a modulation format of each corresponding baseband signal; and

the equalizer module is further operable to equalize the processed baseband signal based upon the determined modulation.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19 , wherein the determined modulation is selected from at least Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation and Eight Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 20 , wherein:

the equalizer module is further operable to equalize a GMSK modulated processed baseband signal using Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) equalization; and

the equalizer module is further operable to equalize an 8PSK modulated processed baseband signal using Maximum A posteriori Probability (MAP) equalization.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

soft decision scaling factor processing; and

matched filter processing.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein pre-equalization processing includes at least two operations of the following operations:

de-rotation and frequency correction;

burst power estimation;

timing, channel, noise, and Signal-to-Noise Ratio estimation;

Automatic Gain Control loop processing;

equalizer coefficient calculation;

pre-equalization processing; and

soft decision scaling factor processing.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 17 , wherein post-equalization processing includes at least one operation of the following operations:

phase averaging of a plurality of soft decisions; and

frequency estimation and tracking.