diff --git a/config/common_base b/config/common_base
index e406e78..21ab606 100644
--- a/config/common_base
+++ b/config/common_base
@@ -528,6 +528,7 @@ CONFIG_RTE_PMD_PACKET_PREFETCH=y
 CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_BBDEV=y
 CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_MAX_DEVS=128
 CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_OFFLOAD_COST=y
+CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2=n
 
 #
 # Compile PMD for NULL bbdev device
@@ -537,7 +538,7 @@ CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_NULL=y
 #
 # Compile PMD for turbo software bbdev device
 #
-CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW=n
+CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW=y
 
 #
 # Compile generic crypto device library
diff --git a/doc/guides/bbdevs/turbo_sw.rst b/doc/guides/bbdevs/turbo_sw.rst
index 29f7ec9..455fa1d 100644
--- a/doc/guides/bbdevs/turbo_sw.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/bbdevs/turbo_sw.rst
@@ -4,23 +4,39 @@
 SW Turbo Poll Mode Driver
 =========================
 
-The SW Turbo PMD (**baseband_turbo_sw**) provides a poll mode bbdev driver that utilizes
-Intel optimized libraries for LTE Layer 1 workloads acceleration. This PMD
-supports the functions: Turbo FEC, Rate Matching and CRC functions.
+The SW Turbo PMD (**baseband_turbo_sw**) provides a software only poll mode bbdev
+driver that can optionally utilize Intel optimized libraries for LTE Layer 1
+workloads acceleration.
+
+Note that the driver can also be built without any dependency with reduced
+functionality for maintenance purpose.
+
+To enable linking to the SDK libraries see detailed installation section below.
+One flag can be enabled depending on whether the target machine can support
+AVX2 instructions sets and the related SDK libraries for vectorized
+signal processing functions are installed :
+- CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
+
+By default this flag is disabled. For AVX2 machine and SDK
+library installed then this flag can be enabled.
+
+This PMD supports the functions: FEC, Rate Matching and CRC functions detailed
+in the Features section.
 
 Features
 --------
 
-SW Turbo PMD has support for the following capabilities:
+SW Turbo PMD can support for the following capabilities when the SDK libraries
+are used:
 
-For the encode operation:
+For the LTE encode operation:
 
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_CRC_24A_ATTACH``
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_CRC_24B_ATTACH``
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_RATE_MATCH``
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_RV_INDEX_BYPASS``
 
-For the decode operation:
+For the LTE decode operation:
 
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_SUBBLOCK_DEINTERLEAVE``
 * ``RTE_BBDEV_TURBO_CRC_TYPE_24B``
@@ -41,14 +57,10 @@ Installation
 FlexRAN SDK Download
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-To build DPDK with the *baseband_turbo_sw* PMD the user is required to download
-the export controlled ``FlexRAN SDK`` Libraries. An account at `Intel Resource
-Design Center <https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/resource-design-center.html>`_
-needs to be registered.
+As an option it is possible to link this driver with FleXRAN SDK libraries
+which can enable real time signal processing using AVX instructions.
 
-Once registered, the user needs to log in, and look for
-*Intel FlexRAN Software Release Package -18-09* to download or directly through
-this `link <https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getContent/605167>`_.
+These libraries are available through this link `link <https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/flexran-lte-and-5g-nr-fec-software-development-kit-modules>`_.
 
 After download is complete, the user needs to unpack and compile on their
 system before building DPDK.
@@ -57,24 +69,24 @@ The following table maps DPDK versions with past FlexRAN SDK releases:
 
 .. _table_flexran_releases:
 
-.. table:: DPDK and FlexRAN SDK releases compliance
+.. table:: DPDK and FlexRAN FEC SDK releases compliance
 
    =====================  ============================
-   DPDK version           FlexRAN SDK release
+   DPDK version           FlexRAN FEC SDK release
    =====================  ============================
-   18.02                  1.3.0
-   18.05                  1.4.0
-   18.08                  1.6.0
-   19.02                  18.09
+   19.08                  19.04
    =====================  ============================
 
 FlexRAN SDK Installation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+Note that the installation of these libraries is optional.
+
 The following are pre-requisites for building FlexRAN SDK Libraries:
- (a) An AVX2 supporting machine
- (b) CentOS Linux release 7.2.1511 (Core) operating system
- (c) Intel ICC 18.0.1 20171018 compiler installed
+ (a) An AVX2 or AVX512 supporting machine
+ (b) CentOS Linux release 7.2.1511 (Core) operating system is advised
+ (c) Intel ICC 18.0.1 20171018 compiler or more recent and related libraries
+     ICC is available with a free community license `link <https://software.intel.com/en-us/system-studio/choose-download#technical>`_.
 
 The following instructions should be followed in this exact order:
 
@@ -84,25 +96,18 @@ The following instructions should be followed in this exact order:
 
         source <path-to-icc-compiler-install-folder>/linux/bin/compilervars.sh intel64 -platform linux
 
-#. Extract the ``605167-flexran-18-09-tar.gz`` package:
-
-    .. code-block:: console
-
-        mkdir FlexRAN-18.09
-        tar xvzf 605167-flexran-18-09-tar.gz -C FlexRAN-18.09/
-
 #. Run the SDK extractor script and accept the license:
 
     .. code-block:: console
 
-        cd <path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-18.09/
-        ./SDK-18.09.sh
+        cd <path-to-workspace>
+        ./FlexRAN-FEC-SDK-19-04.sh
 
 #. Generate makefiles based on system configuration:
 
     .. code-block:: console
 
-        cd <path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-18.09/SDK-18.09/sdk/
+        cd <path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-FEC-SDK-19-04/sdk/
         ./create-makefiles-linux.sh
 
 #. A build folder is generated in this form ``build-<ISA>-<CC>``, enter that
@@ -129,12 +134,14 @@ Example:
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
-    export FLEXRAN_SDK=<path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-18.09/SDK-18.09/sdk/build-avx2-icc/install
-    export DIR_WIRELESS_SDK=<path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-18.09/SDK-18.09/sdk/
-
+    export FLEXRAN_SDK=<path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-FEC-SDK-19-04/sdk/build-avx2-icc/install
+    export DIR_WIRELESS_SDK=<path-to-workspace>/FlexRAN-FEC-SDK-19-04/sdk/build-avx2-icc/
 
-* Set ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW=y`` in DPDK common configuration
-  file ``config/common_base``.
+* Set ``CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2=y``
+  in DPDK common configuration file ``config/common_base`` to be able to use
+  the SDK libraries as mentioned above.
+  If no flag are set the PMD driver will still build but its capabilities
+  will be limited accordingly.
 
 To use the PMD in an application, user must:
 
diff --git a/drivers/baseband/meson.build b/drivers/baseband/meson.build
index 52489df..40a87d2 100644
--- a/drivers/baseband/meson.build
+++ b/drivers/baseband/meson.build
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
 # Copyright(c) 2018 Luca Boccassi <bluca@debian.org>
 
-drivers = ['null']
+drivers = ['null', 'turbo_sw']
 
 config_flag_fmt = 'RTE_LIBRTE_@0@_PMD'
 driver_name_fmt = 'rte_pmd_@0@'
diff --git a/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/Makefile b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/Makefile
index d364677..414d0d9 100644
--- a/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/Makefile
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 
 include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
 
-ifeq ($(FLEXRAN_SDK),)
-$(error "Please define FLEXRAN_SDK environment variable")
-endif
 
 # library name
 LIB = librte_pmd_bbdev_turbo_sw.a
@@ -21,17 +18,21 @@ LDLIBS += -lrte_bus_vdev
 # versioning export map
 EXPORT_MAP := rte_pmd_bbdev_turbo_sw_version.map
 
-# external library dependencies
+# external library dependencies if available
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2),y)
+ifeq ($(FLEXRAN_SDK),)
+$(error "Please define FLEXRAN_SDK environment variable")
+endif
 CFLAGS += -I$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_common
 CFLAGS += -I$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_turbo
 CFLAGS += -I$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_crc
 CFLAGS += -I$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_rate_matching
-
 LDLIBS += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_turbo -lturbo
 LDLIBS += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_crc -lcrc
 LDLIBS += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_rate_matching -lrate_matching
 LDLIBS += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_common -lcommon
-LDLIBS += -lstdc++ -lirc -limf -lipps
+LDLIBS += -lstdc++ -lirc -limf -lipps -lsvml
+endif
 
 # library version
 LIBABIVER := 1
diff --git a/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/bbdev_turbo_software.c b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/bbdev_turbo_software.c
index 5204a77..94aa536 100644
--- a/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/bbdev_turbo_software.c
+++ b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/bbdev_turbo_software.c
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@
 #include <rte_bbdev.h>
 #include <rte_bbdev_pmd.h>
 
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 #include <phy_turbo.h>
 #include <phy_crc.h>
 #include <phy_rate_match.h>
-#include <divide.h>
+#endif
 
 #define DRIVER_NAME baseband_turbo_sw
 
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 	enum rte_bbdev_op_type type;
 } __rte_cache_aligned;
 
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 static inline char *
 mbuf_append(struct rte_mbuf *m_head, struct rte_mbuf *m, uint16_t len)
 {
@@ -128,6 +130,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 
 	return result;
 }
+#endif
 
 /* Read flag value 0/1 from bitmap */
 static inline bool
@@ -143,6 +146,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 	struct bbdev_private *internals = dev->data->dev_private;
 
 	static const struct rte_bbdev_op_cap bbdev_capabilities[] = {
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 		{
 			.type = RTE_BBDEV_OP_TURBO_DEC,
 			.cap.turbo_dec = {
@@ -172,6 +176,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 				.num_buffers_dst = RTE_BBDEV_MAX_CODE_BLOCKS,
 			}
 		},
+#endif
 		RTE_BBDEV_END_OF_CAPABILITIES_LIST()
 	};
 
@@ -179,7 +184,12 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 		.queue_size = RTE_BBDEV_QUEUE_SIZE_LIMIT,
 	};
 
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 	static const enum rte_cpu_flag_t cpu_flag = RTE_CPUFLAG_SSE4_2;
+	dev_info->cpu_flag_reqs = &cpu_flag;
+#else
+	dev_info->cpu_flag_reqs = NULL;
+#endif
 
 	default_queue_conf.socket = dev->data->socket_id;
 
@@ -191,7 +201,6 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 	dev_info->max_ul_queue_priority = 0;
 	dev_info->default_queue_conf = default_queue_conf;
 	dev_info->capabilities = bbdev_capabilities;
-	dev_info->cpu_flag_reqs = &cpu_flag;
 	dev_info->min_alignment = 64;
 
 	rte_bbdev_log_debug("got device info from %u\n", dev->data->dev_id);
@@ -410,6 +419,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 	.queue_release = q_release
 };
 
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 /* Checks if the encoder input buffer is correct.
  * Returns 0 if it's valid, -1 otherwise.
  */
@@ -464,6 +474,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 
 	return 0;
 }
+#endif
 
 static inline void
 process_enc_cb(struct turbo_sw_queue *q, struct rte_bbdev_enc_op *op,
@@ -472,6 +483,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 		struct rte_mbuf *m_out, uint16_t in_offset, uint16_t out_offset,
 		uint16_t in_length, struct rte_bbdev_stats *q_stats)
 {
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 	int ret;
 	int16_t k_idx;
 	uint16_t m;
@@ -724,6 +736,22 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 		}
 		*tmp_out = 0;
 	}
+#else
+	RTE_SET_USED(q);
+	RTE_SET_USED(op);
+	RTE_SET_USED(r);
+	RTE_SET_USED(c);
+	RTE_SET_USED(k);
+	RTE_SET_USED(ncb);
+	RTE_SET_USED(e);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_in);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_out_head);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_out);
+	RTE_SET_USED(in_offset);
+	RTE_SET_USED(out_offset);
+	RTE_SET_USED(in_length);
+	RTE_SET_USED(q_stats);
+#endif
 }
 
 static inline void
@@ -835,6 +863,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 			NULL);
 }
 
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 static inline void
 move_padding_bytes(const uint8_t *in, uint8_t *out, uint16_t k,
 		uint16_t ncb)
@@ -847,6 +876,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 	rte_memcpy(&out[nd + kpi + 64], &in[kpi], d);
 	rte_memcpy(&out[(nd - 1) + 2 * (kpi + 64)], &in[2 * kpi], d);
 }
+#endif
 
 static inline void
 process_dec_cb(struct turbo_sw_queue *q, struct rte_bbdev_dec_op *op,
@@ -856,6 +886,7 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 		uint16_t crc24_overlap, uint16_t in_length,
 		struct rte_bbdev_stats *q_stats)
 {
+#ifdef RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 	int ret;
 	int32_t k_idx;
 	int32_t iter_cnt;
@@ -972,6 +1003,22 @@ struct turbo_sw_queue {
 		rte_bbdev_log(ERR, "Turbo Decoder failed");
 		return;
 	}
+#else
+	RTE_SET_USED(q);
+	RTE_SET_USED(op);
+	RTE_SET_USED(c);
+	RTE_SET_USED(k);
+	RTE_SET_USED(kw);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_in);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_out_head);
+	RTE_SET_USED(m_out);
+	RTE_SET_USED(in_offset);
+	RTE_SET_USED(out_offset);
+	RTE_SET_USED(check_crc_24b);
+	RTE_SET_USED(crc24_overlap);
+	RTE_SET_USED(in_length);
+	RTE_SET_USED(q_stats);
+#endif
 }
 
 static inline void
diff --git a/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/meson.build b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..438b5a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/baseband/turbo_sw/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright(c) 2019 Intel Corporation
+
+path = get_option('flexran_sdk')
+
+if dpdk_conf.has('RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2')
+	lib = cc.find_library('libturbo', dirs: [path + '/lib_turbo'], required: false)
+	if not lib.found()
+		build = false
+	else
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libturbo', dirs: [path + '/lib_turbo'], required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libcrc', dirs: [path + '/lib_crc'], required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('librate_matching', dirs: [path + '/lib_rate_matching'], required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libcommon', dirs: [path + '/lib_common'], required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libstdc++', required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libirc', required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libimf', required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libipps', required: true)
+		ext_deps += cc.find_library('libsvml', required: true)
+		includes += include_directories(path + '/lib_turbo')
+		includes += include_directories(path + '/lib_crc')
+		includes += include_directories(path + '/lib_rate_matching')
+		includes += include_directories(path + '/lib_common')
+	endif
+endif
+
+deps += ['bbdev', 'bus_vdev', 'ring']
+name = 'bbdev_turbo_sw'
+allow_experimental_apis = true
+sources = files('bbdev_turbo_software.c')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 16d9f92..92d3e97 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ option('enable_kmods', type: 'boolean', value: true,
 	description: 'build kernel modules')
 option('examples', type: 'string', value: '',
 	description: 'Comma-separated list of examples to build by default')
+option('flexran_sdk', type: 'string', value: '',
+	description: 'Path to FlexRAN SDK optional Libraries for BBDEV device')
 option('ibverbs_link', type: 'combo', choices : ['shared', 'dlopen'], value: 'shared',
 	description: 'Linkage method (shared/dlopen) for Mellanox PMDs with ibverbs dependencies.')
 option('include_subdir_arch', type: 'string', value: '',
diff --git a/mk/rte.app.mk b/mk/rte.app.mk
index d0df0b0..2c3d07a 100644
--- a/mk/rte.app.mk
+++ b/mk/rte.app.mk
@@ -219,11 +219,14 @@ _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_NULL)     += -lrte_pmd_bbdev_null
 
 # TURBO SOFTWARE PMD is dependent on the FLEXRAN library
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -lrte_pmd_bbdev_turbo_sw
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2),y)
+# Dependency on the FLEXRAN SDK library if available
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_crc -lcrc
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_turbo -lturbo
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_rate_matching -lrate_matching
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -L$(FLEXRAN_SDK)/lib_common -lcommon
 _LDLIBS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_BBDEV_TURBO_SW) += -lirc -limf -lstdc++ -lipps
+endif # CONFIG_RTE_BBDEV_SDK_AVX2
 endif # CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_BBDEV
 
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_CRYPTODEV),y)
