Cambridge Consultants claims to have developed the smallest commercially available 2G and 3G small-cell platform.
The small cell basestation, dubbed Sidewinder, is software configurable between GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA+ using software defined radio (SDR) technology.
The radio system will operate at any carrier frequency from 375MHz to 4GHz and with a channel bandwidth from 200kHz to 28MHz.
It supports GSM link ranges up to and in excess of 40 metres indoors and 200 metres outdoors.
Cambridge Consultants will offer a hardware development platform.
It will also license the design to other manufacturers.
“In a product environment disrupted by new communications standards and the demand for ever-higher data bandwidth, we wanted to build a low cost base station which could be customised for just about any setting,” said Fraser Edwards, group head of RF systems at Cambridge Consultants.
On the front end, Sidewinder uses a LMS6002D multi-standard, multi-frequency transceiver from Lime Microsystems. Connected to this is Picochip’s PC312 Femtocell baseband SoC, with integrated ARM applications processor.
Sidewinder is likely to be integrated into basestation or mobile units for police, emergency services and other professional radio users.
“In Sidewinder they have applied their expertise to develop a high quality reference design for companies looking to get a head start in today’s mobile communications market,” said Rupert Baines, v-p of marketing at Picochip.
www.CambridgeConsultants.com