US : Vanu and BitWave Semiconductor announced that the two companies have successfully demonstrated a 700 MHz prototype Femtocell by combining Vanu's Anywave Software Radio technology and BitWave's Softransceiver RFIC.
In January 2008, the FCC is planning to hold an auction to license portions of the spectrum reclaimed from television operators after the transition to HDTV.
Inset is Vanu Bose, CEO of Vanu quoted below.
This extremely valuable low frequency spectrum is especially attractive to the wireless industry with its ability to cover large areas and penetrate signals through buildings. The upcoming auction has garnered interest from a broader audience other than the traditional telecom companies; other interested parties include cable, satellite and Internet firms.
Femtocells, which have the ability to improve consumer experience in the home by providing full mobile residential coverage, are low-power wireless access points that operate in a licensed spectrum and connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator's network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections, according to the Femto Forum (www.femtoforum.org).
"The Vanu Anywave architecture enabled the rapid development of this prototype," said Vanu Bose, CEO of Vanu, Inc., adding, "Now this will allow us to quickly modify the system to meet the home, enterprise and outdoor macro cellular coverage requirements of the winners of the upcoming 700 MHz auction."
The Vanu/BitWave prototype currently supports cellular standards at 700, 850, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands and both CDMA and GSM operation. Future 3G and 4G technology platforms are planned as software upgrades to the system as the prototype can be remotely reprogrammed to support multiple wireless standards in different frequency bands as the Anywave platform performs standards upgrades via remote software downloads. This enables future-proofing the platform and facilitates new business models, such as wholesale networks, that support different standards for different customers.
"The flexibility inherent in the Anywave Software Radio architecture combined with a BitWave Softransceiver RFIC gives Femtocell designers the ability to create a single production SKU for systems operating at different frequencies and on different standards across the globe," said Russ Cyr, Chief Marketing Officer of BitWave.
"The Vanu Anywave software supports both Femto and Macro cell platforms. Using the same software will allow for a seamless 700 MHz network deployment for outdoor and indoor coverage," noted Bose.
The flexibility of the Anywave platform is also of particular value in the 700 MHz 'D-Block' auction. The winner of the D-block must build out a nationwide network for public safety to provide capacity from the commercial network to public safety in times of emergency. Using the Anywave system, parts of the commercial network can be software reconfigured to support public safety wireless standards.
"As a pioneer of wireless technology, Vanu clearly understands the building blocks of advanced wireless platforms that are needed to unleash the full promise of these valuable airwaves to bring consumers innovation, competition and choice," said Frontline Wireless Chairman, Janice Obuchowski.
The Vanu Anywave architecture allows for the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC) to be hosted on a single platform to support flat architecture deployments. Both traditional cellular and VoIP core network interfaces are supported. In addition, Anywave utilizes IP as its native transport mechanism, and has been tested with a variety of backhaul systems including DSL, cable, satellite, microwave, fiber and corporate Ethernet systems, allowing providers the flexibility to choose the lowest cost backhaul option.