Request-driven GALS technique for wireless communication system

A globally asynchronous - locally synchronous (GALS) technique for application in wireless communication systems is proposed and evaluated. The GALS wrappers are based on a request-driven operation with an embedded time-out function. A formally verified GALS wrapper is deployed for the ´GALSiftcation´ of a baseband processor for WLAN. Details of the GALS partitioning, implementation and the design-flow are discussed. Furthermore, a test strategy based on built-in self-test (BIST) is suggested. The described baseband processor was fabricated and successfully tested. The GALS design is compared with a clock-gated, synchronous version. Advantages for system integration are achieved along with a 1% reduction in dynamic power consumption, a 30% reduction in peak power supply current, and 5 dB reduction in spectral noise.