picoChip today announces the first in its next generation of picoXcell femtocell chips, the PC3008. The 40nm device is optimised for high-volume cost-sensitive consumer applications.
“It’s a femtocell in a chip,” says picoChip vp Rupert Baines, “allowing a basestation in a USB with a BOM way less than $50.”
It will be sold through network operators and outlets like Carphone Warehouse.
The PC3008 supports eight users with Release 7 HSPA+ (21Mbps downlink, 5Mbps uplink), and embodies Picochip’s field-proven PHY, already approved by many operators, reducing the risks and time-to-market for system developers.
The chip is manufactured on a 40nm process and has a 950MHz ARM11 processor with TrustZone.
Compared to previous SoCs it enhances security functions and increases integration, reducing external component count and hence bill-of-materials (BOM). It also includes optimised support for next generation low-cost and low-power femtocell radios.
The PC3008 integrates the key components of a 3G femtocell into an aQFN package just 12mm (0.5inch) square, enabling OEMs to produce smaller and more cost-effective femtocells. As a demonstration of the low power, small size and integration that PC30xx series devices will enable, picoChip shared an example of an HSPA+ femtocell in a USB dongle – the world’s smallest 3G basestation.
“We have invested heavily in system test to guarantee the most robust PHY available and the most complete reference design,” says picoChip CEO Nigel Toon.
picoChip is delivering the widest portfolio of femtocell technologies, from residential to the 64-user systems for enterprise and public access. The PC302 is the industry standard for cost-sensitive residential systems (3GPP Home NodeB), the same application as the forthcoming PC3008. The more powerful PC323 supports 24 users, receive diversity and MIMO and is being used in enterprise femtocell systems being deployed by carriers this year, while the PC333 is the highest-specification femtocell chip on the market, with up to 64 users and meeting the 3GPP Local Area Basestation standard (LABS).
As well as the device itself, picoChip offers complete reference designs including hardware platforms, radio designs, together with manufacturing support and complete protocol stack. The availability of ultra-small femtocells will allow operators to easily develop HSPA+ home-basestation capabilities to appliances such as residential gateways, cable modems and set-top boxes. The development builds on picoChip’s optimized range of silicon and software products for high-volume manufacturers of residential HSPA+ femtocells, which deliver best-in-class system power budget, and have reduced the total component cost of a 3G femtocell to significantly less than $50.
The PC3008 will be shipping in volume by end of the year. Other devices in the PC3xxx family will be announced later this year.