picoChip has launched a fully featured LTE development system for small cells, helping OEMs bring to market the next generation of highly cost-effective LTE basestations. Combining the company’s OFDMA technology and market leadership in femtocells, the PC9608/9 accelerates time to market of small form factor LTE products (Home eNode B) optimized for metropolitan, enterprise and residential applications.
The system integrates baseband, software stack and RF, reducing barriers to entry for new suppliers developing basestations and enabling carriers to test the deployment of these new network architectures.
Many analysts and operators believe that LTE will require a dense network of small cells optimized for high-capacity data services to deliver on its full potential. The PC9608/9 is optimized for this "metrozone" architecture, also called "LTE femto".
"picoChip pioneered the concept of the femtocell and we are the industry leader here," commented Nigel Toon, CEO, picoChip. "What's more, we already have a deep expertise in OFDMA/4G that comes from our world-leading position in WiMAX. Our OFDMA technology is now field-proven in WiMAX basestations used by over 100 operators. The PC9608 combines our experience and expertise in these two key areas to enable cost-effective LTE basestations that will accelerate the rolling out of the next generation of mobile networks."
The PC9608 is the first full hardware and software development platform for LTE femtocells, delivering quick and simple development and prototyping to customers and bringing together full evaluation and prototyping capabilities. The core of the product is a carrier class software-defined LTE modem that is compliant with 3GPP standards and can be rapidly optimized and customized via an application programming interface (API).
Based on picoChip’s PC203 picoArray silicon, the system supports both TDD and FDD versions of LTE, and a variety of 3GPP-defined frequencies and bandwidth specifications within the standard. The hardware is integrated into a single compact, robust chassis based on the industry-standard MicroTCA (µTCA) architecture.
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