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Lime Microsystems has introduced a second generation multi-band multi-standard RF transceiver IC which has been tuned for femtocells and small cell basestations.
The transceiver operates at user-selectable frequencies between 375MHz and 4GHz and is suitable for 3G, WiMAX, and LTE standards.
“The availability of purpose-designed transceiver silicon that meets femtocells’ requirements in terms of interference, dynamic range, gain control and frequency agility is critical to the widespread deployment of femtocell technology,” said Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of Lime Microsystems.
The transceiver can be digitally configured to operate in the full range of frequency bands, with 16 user-selectable bandwidths of up to 28MHz. This means that it can transmit and receive data across all WCDMA and CDMA bands, as well as those used or planned for WiMAX and LTE.
According to the supplier, this can remove the need for individual transceiver chips for each of the different bands, and allows a small cell basestation to be reconfigured more simply.
Lime announced first silicon for this device in April 2008. Since then, the device has been through evaluation with key customers, and so the LMS6002 is a second generation device.
For example, it incorporates a multiple RF inputs and outputs to enable features such as GSM Listen Mode required for femtocell operation. It has a standard Serial Port Interface (SPI) for programming and includes provision for a full calibration function.
The LMS6002 is packaged in a 9x9mm 116-pin DQFN package, and is available with an evaluation board and associated software