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April 2003 - picoChip Designs Ltd announced it has made
a 3G call using a software-defined basestation - a world
first. The fully 3GPP compliant "carrier class" basestation
was designed in-house and implemented in a matter of
weeks on the company's technology platform of picoArray
devices, a complete design toolchain and comprehensive
UMTS software reference designs.
The
call is fully compliant to 3GPP standards and test cases
as an end-to-end WCDMA FDD voice call. It was made from
a standard Ubinetics Test Mobile to a Node B basestation
implemented on picoArrays, to a controller and core
network. The system is capable of supporting the full
set of 3G voice, data and video services. It can be
upgraded entirely in software to new releases of the
standard - or even as a "multi-lingual" basestation
to implement different standards on the same hardware
such as GSM, cdma2000, TD-SCDMA or 802.20.
Co-Founder
and CTO, Doug Pulley, added, " We didn't pay several
billion for a licence, so we can't broadcast over the
airwaves, but if we could this basestation could be
used with 3G handsets available in the shops today.
This is truly a "ready to go" basestation, demonstrating
the processing power of the picoArray device and efficiency
of the development environment. The fact is that we
can supply our OEM customers with a complete WCDMA software
reference design - but for those who need proprietary
elements and to include their own IP, the flexibility
is there."
The
company claims that its development of a software-defined
base station is a significant event because it will
alleviate system operator worries about obsolescence,
interoperability or being strapped to standards that
can become quickly outdated.
CEO,
Dr. Rodger Sykes, said, "Making a full 3G voice call
via a product class unit is a milestone achievement
for picoChip. The sheer speed of the development is
a powerful testament to the completeness and efficiency
of our approach. Operators will see the benefits from
the flexibility, removing the need to worry about ever-changing
standards and cripplingly expensive "fork lift upgrades".
Manufacturers will see the benefits in time to market
savings, as well as the revenue opportunities from selling
upgrades and improvements. Both benefit from the cost
reductions picoChip bring to the market."
The
picoChip baseband demonstrator on which the call was
made is a full size macrocell, not a simplified small
picocell. It remains fully functional even under worst-case
conditions as defined in the 3G specification. This
includes high-speed users such as a 250km/hr TGV, and
"birth-death" channels where the signal fades and emerges
as the user passes through a number of high-rise buildings,
blocking and/or opening a line-of-sight.
According
to PicoChip, the basestation is also fully capable of
supporting other standards such as dual mode FDD/TDD,
or FDD + Fixed Wireless for broadband data. Under the
company's roadmap, the next revision of it demonstration
software will also integrate multi-standard/multi-mode
functionality based on standards currently under development
at picoChip, including TDD, TD-SCDMA, 802.20 (MBWA)
and other wireless air interfaces.
The
system complies with Release 4.2.0 Sept 2001 of the
3G standard (the most common revision for current deployment
and for interoperability with handsets) and has been
fully tested to TS25.215 and TS25.104. Support for Release
5 is now under development, including the newest high
speed data mode (HSDPA - up to 14.2Mbps data rate).
It
is capable of supporting other standards such as dual
mode FDD/TDD, or FDD + Fixed Wireless for broadband
data. The next revision of the demonstration software
will include multi-standard/multi-mode functionality.
Standards currently under development at picoChip include
TDD, TD-SCDMA, 802.20 (MBWA) and other wireless air
interfaces.
SOURCE
- picoChip Designs Ltd Press Release Back
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