TechnoConcepts of Boston, which is developing a re-configurable RF front end for software defined radio (SDR) systems, has a design in which its RF front end is plugged into a re-configurable baseband from PicoChip of Bristol.
The combination allows the possibility of a fully
reconfigurable SDR system in which the same piece of silicon can act successively as different radio standards, said the company.
This first platform is confined to WiMAX. Since WiMAX is notorious because the spectrum frequencies allocated to it vary from country to country, 2.1GHz in the US, 2.3GHz in Korea, 2.5GHz in Europe and 3.4GHz, 3.6GHz, and 4.9GHz elsewhere, a reconfigurable platform is a suitable starter product for a re-configurable wireless platform.
“This is very much a Phase One product,” Rupert Baines, v-p for marketing at PicoChip, told
EW, “it’s just for WiMAX because it has so many different systems, so many different frequencies.”
According to TechnoConcepts, the platform allows customers to evaluate the technology and develop their own applications using the company’s Lycon chipset. ‘For example, one programmable chipset could support Sprint’s AWS spectrum, Korean WiBro at 2.3GHz, European 2.5GHz bands and Asian 3.5GHz,’ said
TechnoConcepts.
“The combination of PicoChip’s reconfigurable baseband solution integrated with TechnoConcepts’ reconfigurable radio makes a very strong platform to address next generation wireless demands,” said Antonio Turgeon, chairman and CEO of TechnoConcepts.
“Our processor allows OEMs to offer upgradeable baseband, but the versatility of TechnoConcepts’ True Software Radio lifts this to a new level,” said Guillaume d’Eyssautier, president and CEO at PicoChip.