Freescale Semiconductor has combined its multi-core QorIQ processor with programmable DSP in what it is calling a “mobile basestation-on-chip” device.
The company is sampling its first QorIQ Qonverge system-on-chip (SoC) devices which are aimed at picocell and femtocell basestations.
A processor for macro basestations will follow later this year.
Freescale is hoping to address the move to smaller, lower power 4G basestation designs by offering its established basestation processor as a scalable range of chips built on the same architecture that spans from small- to large-cell base stations.
According to Scott Aylor, director and general manager of Freescale’s Wireless Access Division, the wireless industry is in “dire need of innovative new solutions to address challenging power requirements and exploding demand for additional bandwidth.”
The plan, said Aylor, is to offer “scalability and software compatibility, giving customers flexibility as they move up to larger capacity systems.”
Freescale’s first available QorIQ Qonverge processors are the PSC9130/31 femtocell SoCs (for eight to 16 simultaneous users) and PSC9132 picocell/enterprise SoC devices (for up to 64 simultaneous users).
The processors support a range of air interfaces, including LTE (FDD/TDD), WCDMA (HSPA+) WiMAX UMTS and CDMA.
The devices also incorporate glueless RF and antenna interfaces, which the company claimed will reduce the need for additional FPGAs.
The PSC913x family also provides support for GPS synchronisation and 2G/3G sniffing in a single device.
The chips use the Power Architecture e500 MPU cores and programmable StarCore SC3850 digital signal processor (DSP). There are also dedicated baseband hardware acceleration engines capable of supporting LTE macrocell basestations.