A week or so after arguing that the first piece of silicon which can function, successively, as multiple radios would have the WOW! Factor, it turns out that TechnoConcepts of Boston has come up with an evaluation platform which combines a re-configurable RF front-end with a pico-Chip array-of-DSPs reconfigurable baseband.
This is not yet a single piece of silicon, and it is confined to WiMAX, but it is very definitely a major step on the route to WOW! factor silicon.
WiMAX is a nice early application for re-configurable software defined radio (SDR) because the politicans of the various different regions, in that cussed, stupid way of politicans, have allocated so many different frequecies to WiMAX in their countries.
For instance 2.1GHz in the US, 2.3GHz in Korea, 2.5GHz in Europe and 3.4GHz, 3.6GHz, and 4.9GHz elsewhere.
TechnoConcepts points out: "For example, one programmable chipset could support Sprint's AWS spectrum, Korean WiBRO at 2.3GHz, European 2.5GHz bands and Asian 3.5GHz."
"This is very much a Phase One product", says Rupert Baines, vice president for marketing at picoChip, "it's just for Wimax because Wimax has so many different systems, so many different frequencies."
So the TechnoConcepts/picoChip platform neatly sidesteps round the inadequacies of our political leaders and provides a WiMAX solution which can work in any country, on whatever frequency.
That's good for WiMAX, and it's a big step alomg the way to the point a which the same piece of silicon can be different radios. WOW! Factor silicon is getting closer.
Q: What rhymes with GHz? See at Noon.
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