The key of a successful approach to the complex issue of designing wireless terminals for present and future communication systems (usually addressed to as '3rd Generation and beyond') lies in a single 'magic' word: multidisciplinarity. This was actually the philosophy which inspired and drove a fruitful teamwork performed at the University of Pisa (Italy) under the auspices of the European Space Agency (ESA) with the goal of developing a digital receiver for CDMA mobile communications. The most challenging issue of the project was the implementation into a single ASIC device of an advanced detector for multi-user CDMA signals featuring interference mitigation capability. The whole design process, starting from system specifications down to final har...