Two silicon developers have co-operated to design a reference platform for 3G and 4G femtocells which they expect to make available in Q1/2010. The firms, Lime Microsystems and picoChip, claim the design will operate in all frequency bands of interest, including existing and emerging frequency bands, and enable vendors to build femtocells based upon WCDMA/HSPA, CDMA2000, LTE and WiMAX standards.
Lime said that the new platform would be based upon its multi-band multi-standard RF transceiver IC, the LMS6002, alongside picoChip's picoXcell baseband silicon for femtocells. "The reference platform will enable our mutual customers to accelerate development cycles for femtocell products and will support easier migration from 3G to 4G technology," said Philippe Roux, VP for business development at Lime Microsystems.
Lime's LMS6002 chipset is designed for femtocells and small cell base stations and can, according to the company, operate user-selectable frequencies between 375MHz and 4GHz.
Rupert Baines, VP of marketing at picoChip, said, "Lime offered an RF transceiver solution that could operate in any frequency band, allowing it to address femtocell applications which cannot be served by other solutions."
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