New Release Software For 3G Basestations

Europe : PA Consulting Group announced availability of the second release of its all-software baseband solution for 3G mobile communication basestations. This release incorporates several key upgrades and provides the basis for differentiated 3G basestation products using this breakthrough technology.

PA's software baseband is designed to be incorporated into 3G basestations using the 3GPP W-CDMA system (also know as UMTS). The distinguishing feature is that the entire baseband is implemented in software running on multiple high-performance digital signal processing (DSP) processors supplied by Analog Devices, Inc. This is distinct from existing solutions where customised electronic hardware is used to implement part or all of the processing needed in the baseband. PA's all-software approach offers three key advantages over existing solutions:

* lower through-life costs
* much better flexibility
* scope for enhanced basestation performance.

These are important advantages for basestation manufacturers looking to produce products that are differentiated in terms of price and performance, and which can be adapted easily as 3G standards evolve. They are also important to 3G network operators who need low-cost solutions that offer the best possible performance and the flexibility to easily upgrade or modify the system.

Release 1 of PA's software has been available since mid 2002 and provides a demonstration and evaluation vehicle for all-software baseband systems. Release 2 provides a big increase in functionality and demonstrates the efficiency of this approach in terms of the large number of users that can be supported per DSP processor. It supports multiple asynchronous users, multiprocessing, mixed voice and data users, variable data rates, and both common and dedicated channel types.

The software baseband provides a complete Layer 1 (Physical Layer) solution for basestations. It is highly scalable and can be adapted to implement basestations ranging from compact picocell systems, through to full-scale macrocell solutions. The baseband is configurable and can be matched to whatever RF interface is required within the basestation. The system also provides a general-purpose Layer 1 interface suitable for connection to basestation control and data processing functions.

The software baseband runs on Analog Devices' TigerSHARC(r) family of processors, programmable, high-performance processors optimized for compute- and memory-intensive communications applications such as 3G wireless basestations. ADI's TigerSHARC Processor is currently the only DSP capable of implementing a complete baseband solution in software.
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Alan Carr, a member of PA's Management Group comments:

"We are proud to have achieved another key milestone in software radio. We are convinced that this technology represents the future for 3G basestations and are already working to integrate it into 3G products."

"Through our collaboration with PA Consulting, we have been able to bring an all-software approach to DSP development to the 3G wireless infrastructure market," said Kevin Leary, product line director for wireless infrastructure, Analog Devices, Inc. "The PA Consulting software solution for our TigerSHARC Processor allows our customers to develop multiprocessor applications that demonstrate the benefits of a true soft baseband solution in real-world environments."

In addition to providing the software itself, PA provides services to assist basestation manufacturers to incorporate this technology into their products. This includes customisation work, where necessary, in addition to support for integration and testing. Long-term support is also available to users of the system.

In addition to the W-CDMA version, PA is also currently developing all-software solutions for the cdma2000 standard. These support both 1xRTT and EV-DO versions and will be available from the end of 2003. Other versions, including solutions for the 3G TDD standards, are expected to be developed in future.