CommAgility announces three sector wireless base station AMC with integrated GPS

Three industry-standard CPRI/OBSAI optical SFP interfaces support direct connections to Remote Radio Heads for full three sector operation without chaining connections. This high level of integration in a single module reduces system and Remote Radio Head complexity.

To provide the highest performance for WiMAX and LTE applications, the module includes three Texas Instruments TCI6487 multicore DSPs running at 1 or 1.2 GHz, as well as a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. The high performance DSPs mean that the card has the potential to also include the MAC layer on a single AMC module.

The integrated GPS receiver provides base station timing synchronisation. This means there is no need for an external GPS receiver, and thus saves on its cost, power and cabling requirements. Resilience is ensured by an OCXO option for timing holdover, which maintains synchronisation if the GPS signal is lost for short periods. Timing can also be sourced or driven via the AMC clocks or an optional front panel SMB connector.

Multiple 10 Gbps Serial RapidIO and Gigabit Ethernet backplane connections are included, to provide fast and reliable I/O interconnects for larger systems.

The module has been tested and proven with WiMAX PHY software from Tata Elxsi and remote radio heads from AxisNT, proving a complete base station PHY layer solution. This reduces system development costs and helps cut time to market for OEMs.

Edward Young, managing director at CommAgility, said, “This latest module provides a high level of integration for wireless base stations to reduce system cost and complexity – and with our software partners we can provide a complete solution that is fast to bring to market.”