Europe UK : picoChip Designs announced it has made a 3G call using a software-defined basestation - a world first. The fully 3GPP compliant "carrier class" basestation was designed in-house and implemented in a matter of weeks on the company's technology platform of picoArray devices, a complete design toolchain and comprehensive UMTS software reference designs. picoChip's software-defined basestation removes the need worry about obsolescence, interoperability or being trapped into out-dated standards - significantly improving the economics of 3G for both operators and manufacturers.

The call is fully compliant to 3GPP standards and test cases as an end-to-end WCDMA FDD voice call. It was made from a standard Ubinetics Test Mobile (TM100) to a Node B basestation implemented on picoArrays, to a controller and core network. The system is capable of supporting the full set of 3G voice, data and video services. It can be upgraded entirely in software to new releases of the standard - or even as a "multi-lingual" basestation to implement different standards on the same hardware such as GSM, cdma2000, TD-SCDMA or 802.20.

CEO, Dr. Rodger Sykes, said, "Making a full 3G voice call via a product class unit is a milestone achievement for picoChip. The sheer speed of the development is a powerful testament to the completeness and efficiency of our approach. Operators will see the benefits from the flexibility, removing the need to worry about ever-changing standards and cripplingly expensive "fork lift upgrades". Manufacturers will see the benefits in time to market savings, as well as the revenue opportunities from selling upgrades and improvements. Both benefit from the cost reductions picoChip bring to the market."

Co-Founder and CTO, Doug Pulley, added, " We didn't pay several billion for a licence, so we can't broadcast over the airwaves, but if we could this basestation could be used with 3G handsets available in the shops today. This is truly a "ready to go" basestation, demonstrating the processing power of the picoArray device and efficiency of the development environment. The fact is that we can supply our OEM customers with a complete WCDMA software reference design - but for those who need proprietary elements and to include their own IP, the flexibility is there."

The picoChip baseband demonstrator on which the call was made is a full size macrocell, not a simplified small picocell. It remains fully functional even under worst-case conditions as defined in the 3G specification. This includes high-speed users such as a 250km/hr TGV, and "birth-death" channels where the signal fades and emerges as the user passes through a number of high-rise buildings, blocking and/or opening a line-of-sight.

The system complies with Release 4.2.0 Sept 2001 of the 3G standard (the most common revision for current deployment and for interoperability with handsets) and has been fully tested to TS25.215 and TS25.104. Support for Release 5 is now under development, including the newest high speed data mode (HSDPA - up to 14.2Mbps data rate).

It is capable of supporting other standards such as dual mode FDD/TDD, or FDD + Fixed Wireless for broadband data. The next revision of the demonstration software will include multi-standard/multi-mode functionality. Standards currently under development at picoChip include TDD, TD-SCDMA, 802.20 (MBWA) and other wireless air interfaces.

The PC101, the picoArray-based hardware on which this system runs, is the fastest embedded processor available by a significant margin. With performance of 30 Giga-MACs and 200 Giga-instructions per second, it is approximately ten times faster than a top-of-the-line legacy DSP. It is easy to program because it integrates control, high-speed signal processing and complex data manipulation in one development environment. The picoArray architecture was developed with a strong emphasis on ease of design/verification and deterministic performance for embedded signal processing and is optimised for wireless communications tasks,especially 3G. The PC101 delivers the performance and efficiency of a conventional fixed function System on Chip but is completely programmable from standard C or assembler.

For further information on the PC101 or to discuss licences for the WCDMA software reference design and other standards contact picoChip direct.