Agilent Technologies, picoChip, and mimoOn Demonstrate 3GPP LTE Femtocell Testing Capability
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 22, 2008 Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that in working with picoChip and mimoOn, engineers from the three firms have successfully performed testing of a 3GPP LTE femtocell reference design utilizing Agilent's MXA signal analyser VSA test solutions.
Agilent, picoChip and mimoOn have collaborated to ensure that the tests of their reference design meet the requirements of the LTE standard currently still in development. Their engineering co-operation has advanced the technology needed to meet the demands of the emerging LTE femtocell market.
The test solutions used to validate the femtocell reference design consisted of an Agilent MXA Signal Analyser with the Agilent 89600 Series Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software with its new 3GPP LTE modulation analysis option. This recently -introduced option provides RF and baseband engineers working on early LTE devices with the industry's most comprehensive signal analysis solution for physical layer testing and troubleshooting. The Agilent 3GPP LTE VSA option enables LTE signal analysis from the analog or digital baseband through to the RF antenna for Node B infrastructure as well as end-user equipment prototype designs.
"Agilent is fully committed to addressing the complete test requirements for functionality and performance that engineers need to create high quality products for the LTE market" said, Guy Sene, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Signal Analysis Division, "as the leader in test for wireless communications these advances in testing for femtocells will significantly contribute to the market delivery of this innovative technology."
The reference design code was developed by mimoOn, a leader in software defined radio solutions for advanced wireless standards, running on picoChip's multi-core DSP platform. The reference designs allow OEMs to achieve faster time-to-market and lower development costs as they can focus their resources on adding value and differentiating their products. As a software-defined solution, it is future-proof and can be upgraded as the LTE standard is refined and updated.
"LTE is the next market for picoChip. We are the only femtocell silicon vendor with operator commitment and it is crucial that we continue to leverage that at every stage. Simply put, the two-year experience lead that we have over the competition in femtocells, plus our industry-leading expertise in WiMAX^(TM), will sustain our LTE customers' competitive edge: accelerating their programs, improving development efficiency and reducing cost," said Guillaume d'Eyssautier president and CEO, picoChip.
picoChip is one of the leading suppliers of femtocell technology. The company recently announced the availability of the industry's first LTE femtocell and picocell reference designs, the PC8608 Home eNodeB and PC8618 eNodeB respectively. The PC86xx family small-cell LTE reference designs can be combined with picoChip's HSPA products and run on the same common hardware platform as the company's industry-standard WiMAX reference designs.
picoChip is currently the only company shipping femtocell silicon, with customers that include Ubiquisys, ipAccess and a number of Tier One OEMs.
About Agilent and 3GPP LTE
Agilent is leading the way with design automation tools and flexible instrumentation for early R&D design in components, base-station equipment and mobile devices. Agilent, along with its partners, plans to provide a broad, comprehensive portfolio of solutions that address the entire UE lifecycle -- from early development through production test and deployment. Using knowledge as members of the standards committees, Agilent design engineers are developing scalable products with best-in-class measurement techniques. More information about Agilent's 3GPP LTE products is available at www.agilent.com/find/LTE.
About picoChip
picoChip is the only semiconductor company focussed on wireless infrastructure, and provides software-defined radio solutions to address the key challenges of cost, development time and flexibility for the next generation of wireless systems. The company's multi-core processors deliver both world-beating price/performance and power/performance. picoChip is the industry standard architecture for WiMAX^(TM) basestations, and is the leading supplier for the new wave of femtocells (3G/4G access points). picoChip technology is also being used to develop other 4G wireless protocols such as UMTS-LTE, 802.20 and TD-SCDMA.
About mimoOn
mimoOn GmbH supplies state of the art software implementation of the 3GPP LTE physical layer and protocol stack for infrastructure devices and terminals. Founded in 2006, mimoOn has assembled a remarkable team of proven experts in MIMO algorithms, Software Defined Radio technology and LTE system design. Together with its silicon partners, mimoOn offers complete solutions for manufacturers of macrocells, picocells, femtocells, data cards, wireless modules, wireless modems, mobile phones, and other wireless systems.