LTE Focus: Small cells and app ecosystems are key to success
Published: 11 September, 2009
READ MORE: Application Environment | Femtocell | LTE | Wi-Fi
Continued ...
Of course, cellcos are waking up to the advantages of offloading to their own Wi-Fi networks or to those of a partner, and in some countries WiMAX operators may also find such alliances a strong source of business. This is partly because of the economics of high capacity technologies running in low cost or free spectrum, but also the ability to target bandwidth where demand lies, as Cablevision has done. And positioning capacity where the customers are, and beyond that, targeting specific QoS levels or services at individual cells, are among the clear benefits of small cells.
Wi-Fi has blazed a trail, but the up-and-coming technology to create small cells, allowing for targeted coverage and applications, is the femtocell. This can also, of course, offload traffic from the macro network to the user's private network, or to an outdoor hotzone. Rayment fully recognizes the potential of the latter and expects Wi-Fi access points to be replaced, in some situations, by LTE femtocells in future. "Smart carriers realize Wi-Fi can be a land grab for LTE femtocells and picocells," he said. "An operator controlled Wi-Fi AP can be swapped for a femtocell and the carrier already has the PoP and site."
Looking forward to the LTE femtocell is picoChip, the main supplier of femto silicon, which announced a hardware/software development platform for "small cell LTE base stations", which it said would be optimized for a metrozone approach. The PC9608/9 integrates baseband, software stack and RF, seeking to cut time to market for vendors creating an LTE femto. It is based on picoChip's PC203 picoArray silicon, supporting various frequencies and TDD or FDD modes, and incorporated into a compact MicroTCA chassis.
The UK firm's CEO Nigel Toon was pursuing the line much beloved of Motorola - that experience in WiMAX gives suppliers a significant headstart in the similarly OFDMA-based LTE. "We already have a deep expertise in OFDMA / 4G, that comes from our world leading position in WiMAX," he said in a statement. "Our OFDMA technology is now field proven in WiMAX base stations used by over 100 operators."
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