Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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picoChip 3G voice call proves software-defined basestation technology
April 28, 2003
picoChip Designs 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. picoChip's
software-defined basestation removes the need worry about obsolescence,
interoperability or being trapped into out-dated standards - significantly
improving the economics of 3G for both operators and manufacturers.
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
(TM100) 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 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.
CEO, Dr. Rodger Sykes, said, "Making a full 3G voice call via a product
class unit is a milestone achievement for picoChip. 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."
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 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.
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.
The PC101, the picoArray-based hardware on which this system runs, is
the fastest embedded processor available by a significant margin. With
performance of 30 Giga-MACs and 200 Giga-instructions per second, it is
approximately ten times faster than a top-of-the-line legacy DSP. It is
easy to program because it integrates control, high-speed signal processing
and complex data manipulation in one development environment. The picoArray
architecture was developed with a strong emphasis on ease of design/verification
and deterministic performance for embedded signal processing and is optimised
for wireless communications tasks, especially 3G. The PC101 delivers the
performance and efficiency of a conventional fixed function System on
Chip but is completely programmable from standard C or assembler.
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3G Motorola A920
