A New Generation of Long Term Evolution (LTE) Base Stations
3G LTE - 3G Long Term Evolution - is a new standard under development by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project - 3GPP - to deliver next-generation broadband wireless technology for wide area networks. LTE targets higher throughput, lower latency and efficient IP backhaul compared to previous 3GPP generations, to offer a new mass deployable mobile network technology which should herald a new age of rich multimedia and real-time services.
Platform Benefits

• “Jump starts” time to market with the new LTE standard platform
• Accelerates prototyping and development time
• Helps to lower cost of ownership
• Offers portable C-based software baseline for low latency, high throughput systems

OEM Availability
The Rapid System Development reference platform, including both hardware and software, is specifically targeted for use by OEM customers developing base station equipment solutions. The individual AMC platform hardware components are widely available from a combination of Freescale and Freescale Alliance Partners, and the software is available under license to OEMs.

Turning Vision into Reality with Freescale’s Rapid System Development Platform
While the LTE standards solidify in late 2007, Freescale has developed a comprehensive hardware and software reference package which enables OEMs to quickly plug together their own systems for evaluation and development. The Rapid System Development Platform delivers a modular, programmable base station reference platform based on:

• Industry-leading processors, including networking communication processors built on Power Architecture technology and DSPs based on StarCore technology
• PCI Industrial Computers Manufacturing Group (PICMG) standard AdvancedMC (AMC)
• Layer 1 and 2 baseband enablement software for evolved Node B developments on Freescale processors

AMC Hardware Platform Details
The broadband wireless baseband processing reference hardware is based on multiple modular PICMG defined AMC modules plugged into a compact MicroTCA chassis. The ability to use AMC modules directly, without the need for an AdvancedTCA or a custom carrier, enables substantial reductions in size, cost and power. The modular approach also enables individual components of the system to be upgraded, or even cost reduced, as newer hardware becomes available over time. This accelerates developer timelines and streamlines support. The baseline platform focuses on the Baseband Layer 1 and Layer 2 processing, but the same system can be extended by adding control, network interface and FPGA cards to provide an LTE “Base Station-in-a-Box” solution. The baseline hardware platform components available are shown to the right.

System Architecture Partitioning
The base station system architecture is cleanly partitioned between separate network, Radio Layer 2 and Radio Layer 1 processors as shown above. It should be noted that for lower scale solutions—like micro-base stations—it is certainly practical to consolidate these functions into fewer components, but the baseline reference addresses the scaling needed for multi-sector macro-base station solutions, where each sector delivers high throughput and optimum range.

Major Architectural Block Responsibilities
Layer 1—Physical
Performs the Physical Layer Radio channel coding, modulation onto the carrier frequency, synchronization and MIMO multiple antenna techniques ready to carry the logical radio transport channels and higher layers over the air interface.
Layer 2—Medium Access Control
Performs the Radio Link Control Layer, including the Medium Access Control (MAC), that controls the base station and subscriber access to air interface resources. Resources are scheduled according to Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, using packet concatenation/segmentation, retransmission via automatic repeat request (ARQ) and also hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in combination with Layer 1.
Network Interface
Performs network backhaul transport and interworking with internal interfaces. This includes processing the network layers up to OSI Layer 3, including IPsec secure network termination, header compression and traffic classification (QoS). The Network Interface Card (NIC) can optionally support the 3G LTE radio link encryption—but depending upon the selected architecture this could be partitioned to the channel card.

CONTACT REQUEST
If you want to know more about this Freescale product, please submit your request to Arrow Italy using this form.

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