LTE protocol stack targets small cell relay nodes backhaul

Using an in-house 3GPP test environment, ALPS 521 is pre-tested with RN-specific scenarios and configuration parameters, and can be flawlessly integrated into the relay architecture. The protocol stack is also fully tested against relevant 3GPP/non 3GPP third party conformance tests specific for relays.

As it is already fully Release 11 compliant, ALPS 521 provides a simple platform for the integration and verification of the interactions of relay functionalities to Release 11 specifications such as impact of R-PDCCH and ePDCCH, CoMP, and relay interactions.

ALPS 521 is future-proof to support RN Layer 1 interfaces through an adaptation layer (L1A), which supports both in-band without isolation and out-band/in-band with isolation RF architecture. It is designed with well-proven L1 adaptation layer APIs that can be easily customized based on the different MAC and Physical Layer architecture. The protocol stack components are also supplied with a host of tools—Trace, ASN.1, SE-RTOSTM—to help deliver faster product development and reduce third party licensing costs.

Denis Bidinost, CEO, NextG-Com, comments: "Our ALPS 521 LTE protocol variant offers a fast and effective way of delivering a small cell solution to infrastructure vendors who wish to extend their existing eNB portfolio to support future relay node features. Our UE knowledge and expertise can help eNB vendors where additional development and integration services are required to bring the small cell relay node to market.”