Europe UK : 3G infrastructure developer, 3Way Networks, has selected Analog Devices’s (ADI) TigerSHARC as the main base band processing platform for its high capability picocell, due to be launched in the second quarter this year. Above shows the 3Way Picocell.

“TigerSHARC’s support for full-rate HSDPA and full-rate HSUPA were a key consideration in selecting it for our picocell” said Dr Chris Moore 3Way’s CTO. “Operators are expecting UMTS picocells to deliver very high price performance ratios and using the TigerSHARC enables us to deliver a Picocell offering a full carrier of UMTS for less than £1,000.”

“The value proposition of the TigerSHARC technology, with its price/performance metrics and its full scalability, delivers true differentiation over the complete base station market landscape ranging from traditional macro base stations down to the emerging segments of pico and femto base stations” said Michael Long, product line manager, Analog Devices. “These attributes are clear when considering the multitude of TigerSHARC design wins associated with the full-rate HSPA capability specified within Release 6 of the 3GPP specification.”

TigerSHARC technology is being utilized in GSM/EDGE, 3G, and WiMAX base station modems as well as in UMTS LTE demonstrator platforms. The TigerSHARC, and its complete software solution potential, enables homogeneous system platform design which can support true multi-standard capability and the varying capacity requirements found within OEM infrastructure portfolios.

The 3Way Picocell is designed to provide coverage and capacity in office, infill and campus environments. It will be offered in both indoor and outdoor weatherproof versions as part of a product family that will include a matched RF booster.  3Way will be offering the picocell with either a SIP IMS interface or an Iu interface depending on the operators preference. “In the long run we see most of these products being deployed with the SIP interface into an IMS network, but a number of operators prefer an Iu based solution in the shorter term – this is why the product is capable of both,” added Dr Moore.
 
3Way will be exhibiting the picocell at the upcoming 3GSM in Barcelona.