Bath-based picoChip has
revealed a femtocell reference design with 2km range, claiming it
to be the world's first Class 3 cell.
"It brings femtocell technology to campuses, rural areas or
metrozone hot-spots," said the firm.
The eight user capacity design, called PC8219E, is actually
already in use, deployed in volume by OEM customers with mobile
carriers, said the firm.
Its extended-reach HSPA baseband is based on picoChip's PC8208
and 8209 PHYs.
"The first femtocell deployments have been focused on the
residential market but we are now seeing interest in moving beyond
the home," said Femto Forum chairman Simon Saunders. "Numerous
operators have called for outdoor femtocells which will extend
coverage and provide additional mobile broadband capacity to rural
and metropolitan areas as well as enterprise campuses."
The Femto Forum has recently standardised femtocells into Class
1 (typically residential), Class 2 (primarily indoor for
enterprise) and Class 3 (for rural, metro and wider area
deployment).