PicoChip and mimoOn have successfully tested a 3GPP LTE femtocell reference design using Agilent Technology's MXA signal analyser and vector signal analyser.

"LTE is the next market for picoChip,” said Guillaume d’Eyssautier, president and CEO, picoChip.

According to d’Eyssautier: "It is crucial that we continue to leverage that at every stage. Simply put, the two-year experience lead that we have over the competition in femtocells, plus our industry-leading expertise in Wimax, will sustain our LTE customers’ competitive edge -- accelerating their programs, improving development efficiency and reducing cost.”

mimoOn, is a German developer of software defined radio solutions for wireless standards, developed the reference design code to run on picoChip’s multicore DSP platform.

The test systems used to validate the femtocell reference design included an Agilent MXA Signal Analyzer with the Agilent 89600 Series Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software and its new 3GPP LTE modulation analysis option. This option enables LTE signal analysis from the analog or digital baseband through to the RF antenna for Node B infrastructure as well as end-user equipment prototype designs.

“These advances in testing for femtocells will significantly contribute to the market delivery of this innovative technology,” said Guy Sene, v-p general manager of Agilent’s Signal Analysis Division.
 
picoChip recently announced its first LTE femtocell and picocell reference designs, the PC8608 Home eNodeB and PC8618 eNodeB respectively. Its customers include Ubiquisys and ipAccess.