/> The end-to-end small cell demonstration shows HD video streaming between two LTE-enabled laptops. It combines Picochip’s picoArray-based hardware and modem, Continuous Computing’s upper-layer software, and dongles (user equipment, or UE) using Wavesat’s Odyssey 9000 family of chipsets. Picochip’s PC960x crams a complete LTE basestation into a chassis barely larger than a hardback book, and is at the heart of the demonstration. It meets 3GPP standards for Home eNodeB and Local Area eNodeB.

The GSMA has shortlisted this system as a finalist in the GSMA Global Mobile Awards for MWC2011 in the Best Technology Breakthrough category.

“If initially most LTE operators will focus on the macro network, they will quickly have to consider new architectural approaches based on smaller cells, said Julien Grivolas, Principal Analyst at Ovum. “Such solutions should guarantee the levels of performance LTE promises by cost-efficiently enabling the required cell densification of operators' networks. In that respect, today's demonstration of a live LTE streaming video from a femtocell to a commercial terminal marks a milestone of industry's readiness to deliver on this vision.”

“For LTE to deliver on its potential, carriers must deliver high-speed data with a lot of capacity – and that requires small cells,” said Doug Pulley, Co-Founder and CTO at Picochip. “Picochip is the leading supplier of optimized ‘small cell’ technology and this demonstrates that our carrier-class LTE and dual-mode products are ready now. They build on our experience in cost-effective 3G femtocells and scale up - a more sensible approach than trying to cram a full macrocell into a small box. It may be a few years before operators need residential LTE femtocells, but carriers are already asking for cost-effective solutions for urban hot-spots and ‘metrocells’ and we have solutions available today to meet that need.”

Femtocells and picocells (or, more generally, ‘small cells’) improve mobile voice and data service at business and residential customer premises, in metropolitan hot zones and in sparsely populated rural areas. They are already becoming critical components of 3G networks, and will play a key role in the roll-out of LTE. The growth in smartphone usage has put massive strain on mobile networks as they struggle to cope with the resultant spiraling demand for data capacity. The move to LTE is essential to cope with these trends, but many analysts agree that for LTE to deliver the capacities required small cells are essential.

Picochip’s PC960x eNodeB integrates radio, PHY and Continuous Computing protocol stacks into a complete system, with end-to-end testing and ‘carrier class’ quality. It supports all the standard modes of LTE up to Release 9, with both TD-LTE and FDD variants. Picochip has also announced dual-mode (LTE and HSPA+ in one platform) variants.

The PC960x demonstration, Picochip’s PC3008 next generation HSPA+ femtocell SoC and various other products and demonstrations will be on Picochip’s stand at Mobile World Congress 2011, Hall 1, stand D56.

The Wavesat Odyssey 9000 chipsets feature CAT-3 performance (100 Mb/s downlink, 50 Mb/s uplink) for user equipment such as USB dongles, data cards, mobile handsets and tablets/MIDs.

Trillium LTE wireless protocol software from Continuous Computing (CCPU), the global provider of integrated platform solutions that address the mobile broadband capacity challenge, supports LTE femtocells and picocells (Home eNodeB) as well as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SWG), Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG) and other EPC elements.