Software Defined Radio (SDR)advances.
Long read. Connecting dots.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA505082.html?industryid=2282
The availability of Altera`s configurable Nios-II embedded processor to complement the company`s Stratix-family FPGAs allows infrastructure designers at companies such as Panasonic Mobile Communications to design 3.5G base stations that support HSDPA.
Tool-chain support includes links into The MathWorks` Matlab/Simulink graphical development and simulation environment, as well as Altera`s SOPC (system-on-programmable-chip) Builder, which adds block-diagram-level composition to its Quartus-II suite.