Reference Design of 3G standards for Picocells and Femtocells - picoChip

Global Wireless Technologies (GWT) has developed a reference design for CDMA2000 and EvDO femtocells and picocells. The new reference design is based on picoChip's picoArray  processor. With this reference design, picoChip's customers has solutions for CDMA2000, WCDMA, EvDO (Rev A), TD-SCDMA and WiMAX, all on a single software-defined hardware platform.

picoChip’s picoArray processor is optimized for next generation wireless signal processing applications. It offers processing resources to advanced digital signal processing such as filtering, path metric calculation, FFT and correlation. picoArray processor also has large amounts of general-purpose MIPs to handle the ever more complex control operations of modern wireless systems. The unique architecture and programming style of picoArray means that all this power can be used in real-world designs not just corner-case benchmarks – utilization of MIPs and communications bandwith of over 90% is typical.

picoArray divides tasks across multiple, independent, processors in the array. This is like mass production: a large number of assembly line workers, each performing only one task. Because they are dedicated, they do not need to be multi-skilled and are cheaper. Because they dedicated to a single task, they are much more efficient. Because there is no switching, there is no time wasted in changes.

The availability of CDMA2000, WCDMA and EvDO support allows developers to develop multi-standard products such as cellular femtocells and wireless access points, with the inherent flexibility and upgradeability of a software-configured solution.

Guillaume d'Eyssautier, picoChip, said:

The announcement means that we can now support a complete range of all of the 3G wireless technologies, including UMTS, TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000…

We're delighted to be able to work with a proven, high-quality developer such as GWT. The availability of complete hardware reference design and software solution from our partners is a true mark of maturity and of the acceptance of the picoArray architecture…

GWT designs and develops multi-standard solutions on a generic platform that include complete hardware reference designs and software for the wireless communications markets. Through its latest effort, the Universal Access Point (UAP ), GWT offers customers a cellular access point solution that extends/improves network coverage (indoor/outdoor) for the following current and planned cellular standards including CDMA , 1XRTT and EVDO. GWT's complete reference design and software solution enables manufacturers to react quickly to market opportunities, reducing development time, thereby bringing products to market rapidly.

picoChip is a fabless chip company: it designs silicon circuits that are manufactured by its fab partners. The firm's main offering is the leading multi-core DSP, which is optimized for next-generation mobile communications. It also has designs for HSDPA/HSUPA (sometimes called 3.5G) femtocells, and WiMAX, where its product is the de facto industry standard, used by Airspan, Intel and many other manufacturers.

Source: CDMA2000 and EvDO for Femtocells and Picocells - picoChip