Simultaneous Operation of LTE and WCDMA on a Single Base Station Processor demonstrated by Freescale

Demonstrating the multimode capabilities of Freescale’s QorIQ Qonverge portfolio, Freescale Semiconductor announced today that integrated VortiQa Layer 1 (L1) software simultaneously supporting WCDMA and LTE is up and running on the QorIQ Qonverge BSC9132 SoC for small cell base station solutions.

According to analyst firm GSMA Intelligence, there are more than 1.5 billion WCDMA connections worldwide and LTE deployments are growing quickly, presenting challenges with frequency bands and getting infrastructure in place. Wireless network operators want multimode small cells that combine 3G, 4G/LTE and Wi-Fi into one small cell base station with the goal of increasing capacity in highly trafficked areas. Equipment manufacturers have struggled to provide solutions that meet those requirements.

Freescale is one of the first companies to bring both multimode-capable hardware and software to market. In production today, the QorIQ Qonverge BSC9132 SoC is a highly integrated device that targets evolving microcell/metrocell, outdoor picocell, enterprise picocell and femtocell base station applications. Availability of the BSC9132 multimode LTE and WCDMA L1 software enables small cell manufacturers to more quickly provide multimode solutions to wireless network operators, speeding industry small cell deployment.

The QorIQ Qonverge BSC9132 SoC integrates two e500 cores, built on Power Architecture® technology, and two StarCore SC3850 cores with the MAPLE-B2P baseband acceleration engine. The processor is a highly programmable device supporting a 20 MHz single sector LTE-FDD/TDD with 150 Mbps downlink and 75 Mbps uplink rates, and HSPA+ with 42 Mbps downlink and 11.5 Mbps uplink rates. The processor supports a range of air interfaces, including LTE (FDD/TDD), WCDMA (HSPA+ and UMTS) and WiMAX, and incorporates glueless RFIC communication and antennae interfaces, eliminating the need for additional chips and ultimately reducing board space and cost.

QorIQ Qonverge base station-on-chip products are based on a common architecture and integrate communications processing, digital signal processing and wireless acceleration technologies into a single system-on-chip in various configurations optimized for next-generation femtocell, picocell, metrocell and macrocell base stations. Advanced process technology and exceptional integration allow the convergence on a single device of multiple functions traditionally performed on separate FPGAs, ASICs, DSPs and processors. This integration reduces the part count, power consumption, cost and footprint for base stations. Having a common, scalable architecture spanning from femtocells to macrocells enables optimized R&D investments and software reuse.

Up- gradation from 2G (second generation) to 3G (third generation) and now current 4G

With the consistent growth in the mobile users, technically mobile (cellular) companies were facing a huge increase in MS Traffic (increase in Erlangen). The more traffic among all these was of data; speaking on the side of the mobile users is INTERNET.

INTERNET or data services has incredibly hold the world of internet on the move, for the fulfillment of the demand 3gpp (third generation participation project) has taken a step forward from the previous 2G. This step was required because the limited trough-put (data rate) of the air interface of 2G. This limitation was because of the limited access of the allotted band and the modulation scheme of the air interface although on the side of the base station BS was never limited with the dedicated E1. This has shown that transmission to the BS was with the capabilities to hold high through put but air-interface was not.

While 3G was in progress for launch, it was for the first time the concept of TDMA (time division multiplexing) was left behind with the new technique of WCDMA which was an enhancement over CDMA. While developing 3G standards before its all release, the concept was to somehow make the air-interface more widen to achieve high throughput to meet the commercial demand. In 3G modulation scheme of high symbol rate were introduced, with QPSK to QAM. In 3G SSM (spread spectrum modulation) was introduced for the first time in mobile communication this has widen the bandwidth associated to a user, providing him higher data-rate for internet access.

Although 3G has provided higher data-rate for internet access including voice but still the service we call DATA ON THE MOVE (DOTM) was behind and people still prefer to have fixed line services for connecting to internet. Fixed line service including DSL lines, OFC, Leased Lines and PTP (micro wave short distance). The weight on the arms of 3G was still high to compete the market commercially and considering all these 3gpp has taken a next step with the release of HSUPA+ and LTE which has triggered the market with more catches of Traffic and has now becoming a wide application part for VPN, a foot step into business.