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Who Makes What: LTE Equipment

Introduction

The next step in the ongoing development of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)

standards for mobile networks is approaching commercial rollout. Yes, Long Term Evolution

(LTE), as the recent 3GPP Release 8 is usually called, is scheduled to make its appearance soon

in several countries, including Japan (NTT Docomo Inc. (NYSE: DCM) in 2010), Sweden

(TeliaSonera AB (Nasdaq: TLSN) in 2010), and the U.S. (Verizon Wireless in 2009).

LTE has generated a lot of excitement in large parts of the telecom industry because, unlike

some of the earlier releases, it is far more than an incremental improvement because it aims to

bring heavyweight broadband capabilities to mobile users. It is the next big thing in wireless,

and many are predicting that it will usher in a revolution in the role and use of telecom

services, and even in the nature of operator's businesses. (See Telco in Transition: The Move to

4G Mobility.)

Isn't 3G good enough?

Many operators are approaching LTE very cautiously and see no need to jump in before 2012 or

later. This is partly because the global economic downturn has made rolling out new network

infrastructure problematic, and partly because the existing and still relatively new lightweight

broadband 3G networks are finally beginning to take off, and operators are desperate to milk

them as much as possible to recoup the ridiculous amounts they paid for their 3G spectrum

licenses during the dotcom boom. For the moment, and for many current purposes, 3G is good

enough.

It's still early days for LTE equipment, although there has been a huge amount of vendor

activity over the last year or two. In general, this activity reflects the reality that operators are

going to migrate their networks piecemeal to LTE over a long timespan, and many vendors are

emphasizing adding LTE capabilities to existing product ranges, or producing multistandard

devices, rather than LTE-only equipment. So LTE isn’t going to be something like WiFi, which,

when it arrived, was a new and self-contained product category.

This report provides a short roundup of who's currently who in the burgeoning LTE area and an

overview of some recent drivers and product/technology developments. It uses a very simple

breakdown into vendors of LTE access equipment, LTE core equipment, test and measurement,

and a range of supporting devices and capabilities, such as silicon chipsets and software. We

have tried to make the listing as complete as possible, but this is where you, Dear Reader, can

help with any companies that have been missed.

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If any companies need to be added, or any information corrected, please bring it to our

attention either on the message board below or by sending an email to

[email protected] or [email protected], placing "Who Makes What: LTE

Equipment" in the subject line.

Here’s a hyperlinked contents list:

: LTE Reduced

Page 3: LTE Access

Page 4: LTE Core

Page 5: Silicon, Platforms, Subsystems & Software

Page 6: Test & Measurement

— Tim Hills is a freelance telecommunications writer and journalist. He's a regular author of

Light Reading reports.

Next Page: LTE Reduced

LTE Reduced

LTE is horribly complicated when viewed as part of a complete architecture, as it forms Release

8 of the ongoing 3GPP series of architectural and standards developments for wireless

networks. These standards by now embrace a huge array of network functional entities and

interfaces (including the massive Internet Multimedia Subsystem – see, for example, What's Up

With IMS?), and, even though the LTE development aims at simplification, it has to interwork

with, and build on, the accumulated debris of earlier releases. So a fundamental issue for a

Who Makes What is to decide what LTE actually means in terms of network equipment.

Figure 1 suggests that a possible way to do this is to concentrate on what is new in the

architecture, as this will translate into new or upgraded equipment. On these grounds, LTE

affects principally two broad areas of the network (tinted green in Figure 1):

The radio access network

The packet core network

Figure 1: Where LTE Fits Into the Scheme of Things


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Source: Light Reading, 2009

Figure 2 shows in a little more detail what this view of LTE equipment covers, and how it

relates to some of the other network functions and access and transport networks involved in

the earlier Releases of the 3GPP series. The main points are:

The earlier 2G and 3G Radio Access Networks (GERAN and UTRAN, respectively) are

replaced by the new E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN/RAN). In particular, the 3G base-station

NodeB is replaced by the new eNodeB.

The General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) core network, which supports both the 2G and

3G RANs, is replaced by a new Evolved Packet Core (EPC, but known also as System

Architecture Evolution, SAE, when the new E-UTRAN and other access networks are

included with it). This uses two new functional elements: the Mobility Management Entity

(MME) node, which handles control signaling; and the SAE Gateway (which can be split

into a separate Serving Gateway and a Packet Data Network Gateway), which handles

traffic and the data-plane aspects.

There are lots of new interfaces, many of them with existing network functional

elements, as LTE makes full use of these elements and interworks with non-3GPP access

networks, for example. Thus the MME node uses the existing Home Subscriber Server

(HSS), although this is now done through Diameter signaling rather than SS7. The use of

Diameter here is significant because it means that all the interfaces in the LTE

architecture are now IP ones.

Figure 2: A More Complete View of How LTE Fits Into 3G & Other Networks


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This diagram shows the Serving Gateway, PDN Gateway, and Deep Packet Intelligence integrated into a single device -- the SAE Gateway. They can,

however, be separate. Green tints indicate the main domain of LTE as covered by this Who Makes What.

Source: Adapted from Allot Communications, 2009

Although the 3GPP had many aims in developing LTE, a lot of them reduce to producing an

architecture that can make mass-market ultrafast broadband services a commercial reality. So

performance has to go up, costs have to come down, interfaces have to be open, and

operations have to be simplified, to name only the most obvious. Figure 3, by making a

comparison with 3G, illustrates some of the ways that the new architecture does this.

Figure 3: Before & After – LTE Access & Core Make a Flatter Network With All IP

Existing 3G approach is on the left, that of LTE is on the right.



4 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

First, legacy ATM is dispensed with in favor of all-IP. Then the architecture is flattened and

simplified by dispensing with the Radio Network Controller (RNC) – instead, the eNodeB

connects directly to the SAE Gateway and the MME. Reducing the number of nodes involved in

a connection improves scalability, performance, and cost-efficiency.

On the RF side, LTE introduces the use of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

radio access and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technologies. Pure OFDM is

used on the downlink from the base station to the terminal, and was selected for its cost

efficiency in supporting the requirement for spectrum flexibility – from under 5MHz bandwidth

to up to 20MHz, and for both Frequency-Division Duplex (FDD) and Time-Division Duplex (TDD)

modes of operation. On the uplink from terminal to base station, LTE uses a special version of

OFDM called Single-Carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), chosen for its lower

power consumption, an important consideration for terminals.

Product classification

On the basis of these considerations, this Who Makes What classifies LTE products under five

broad headings:

Access – the radio base stations and eNodeB equipment

Core – the new Evolved Packet Core nodes

Silicon, platforms, and subsystems – the new chipsets and other subsystems or

devices needed to implement the LTE Access and Core equipment

Software and protocols – similarly for software and protocol stacks

Test and measurement – the new equipment needed by vendors and operators to test

and monitor LTE Access and Core equipment

Here's what we're leaving out:

Terminals/CPE. These are obviously crucial and will be made in vast quantities, so their

omission might seem surprising. But there is a simple reason – they don’t really exist in

the commercial-product sense yet. Yes, it’s almost GSM all over again: The standards are

done, the infrastructure equipment exists, but there is not much on the CPE side – and

the first services are launching in the next 12 months or so. Of course, this will be

rectified in time, but it is a useful corrective to the industry’s tendency to overhype LTE’s

commercial mass-market readiness.

In the meantime, there are demonstration devices and early platforms and chipsets

(some of which are mentioned in the following pages). Given LTE’s high bandwidth

capabilities and low latencies, and relatively limited early geographical coverage, most of

the early CPE are likely to be data-type card dongles for laptops and netbooks, rather

than flashy smartphones like the Apple iPhone.

Antennas. Although LTE brings new antenna technologies to mobile networks, these are

not new per se – WiFi networks have used MIMO techniques for some time, for example

– and arguably belong more to the general art of RF communications than to any specific

application such as LTE. In the interests of manageability, they are thus omitted, but, for

the record, relevant vendors include Ace Antennas, Cellmax Technologies, Motorola Inc.

(NYSE: MOT),Powerwave Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: PWAV), Radio Frequency Systems

(RFS) , and Socowave.


5 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

Backhaul/aggregation equipment. This is another crucial part of any real LTE

network, and doubtlessly will encourage specialist and optimized Ethernet/IP solutions

because of LTE’s wholesale move to IP and the need for new backhaul/aggregation to

match the rollout of new LTE base stations (RAD Data Communications Ltd. , for

example, is majoring on this application for its Carrier Ethernet pseudowire technology).

But, again, this is arguably a new application of an existing art, rather than a new LTE

equipment category.

Existing functional entities interfacing to EPC. The new interfaces between the EPC

and entities such as the HSS, PCRF, AAA, and so on (see Figure 2) will obviously require

vendors of products providing these entities to make changes. However, these are not

specifically new LTE functional entities, and, as these products are very numerous, they

are treated as beyond the scope of this Who Makes What.

Table 1 lists vendors against these five broad LTE product categories.

Table 1: Vendors of LTE Equipment

Vendor Access CoreSilicon / Platforms /

Subsystems

Software /

ProtocolsT&M

4M Wireless Yes

ABIT Yes

Aeroflex Yes

Agilent Technologies Yes

Alcatel-Lucent Yes Yes

Allot Communications Yes

Altair Semiconductor (Yes)

Altera Corporation Yes

Analog Devices Yes

Anite Yes

Anritsu Yes

Aricent Yes

AT4 Wireless Yes

AXIS Network Technology Yes

Azimuth Systems Yes

BitWave Semiconductor Yes

Blue Wonder

Communications

Yes

Catapult Communications Yes

Cavium Networks Yes

Cisco Systems (Yes)


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CommAgility Yes

CommScope/Andrew (Yes)

ComSys Yes

Continuous Computing Yes

Dyaptive Systems Yes

ERCOM Yes

Ericsson Yes Yes

Freescale Semiconductor Yes

Fujitsu Network

Communications

Yes Yes

Gambit Communications Yes

Hitachi Communication

Technologies

(Yes) (Yes)

Huawei Technologies Yes Yes

IntelliNet Technologies Yes Yes

IPWireless Yes (Yes) (Yes)

Keithley Instruments Yes

Kineto Wireless Yes

LG Electronics Yes

Lime Microsystems Yes

LNT Infotech Yes Yes

LSI Corporation Yes

MimoOn Yes Yes

Motorola Yes

MYMO Wireless Technology (Yes)

NEC Yes Yes

NetHawk Yes

Nokia Siemens Networks Yes Yes

Nomor Research Yes

Nortel Yes Yes

Panasonic Mobile

Communications

Yes

Percello Yes

picoChip Yes

Polaris Networks Yes


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Powerwave Technologies Yes

Prisma Engineering Yes

Qasara Yes Yes

Qualcom Yes

Radiocomp Yes

Rohde & Schwarz Yes

RMI Yes

Samsung Electronics Yes Yes

Sandbridge Technologies Yes

Sanjole Yes

Setcom Wireless Yes

Signalion Yes

Sonus Networks Yes

Spirent Communications Yes

Starent Networks Yes

ST-Ericsson Yes

Stoke Yes

Tata Consultancy Services Yes Yes

Tecore Networks Yes

Tektronix Communications Yes

Texas Instruments Yes Yes

Traffix Systems Yes Yes

Ubidyne Yes

Wavesat Yes

WiChorus Yes

Wintegra Yes Yes

ZTE Yes Yes

Parentheses indicate products planned or in development.


Next Page: LTE Access

LTE Access

Functionally, base stations (whether LTE or not) include the RF section (principally the radio

transceiver, but antennas and so on can be included here), the baseband unit, and the

network-interface unit. In a complete product, some of these may come from a specialist


8 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

second vendor, and flexibility may be offered by, for example, separating the RF sections from

the baseband units to allow new subsystems to be swapped in as an upgrade to maximize the

reuse of equipment.

Table 2 lists vendors and examples of LTE access products.

Table 2: Vendors & Examples of LTE Access Products

Vendor Access products include

Alcatel-Lucent 9326 NodeB + 9426 LTE software

AXIS Network Technology LTE Remote Radio Heads

Ericsson BS 6000 base station series, EVO RAN

Fujitsu Network

Communications

BroadOne LS LTE eNodeB base station portfolio


Technologies

(Developing products)

Huawei Technologies SingleRAN

IPWireless V5 Multi-Standard Base Station Platform

Motorola CTU4 and RCTU4 base station radios, eNodeB

NEC eNodeB

Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Base Station

Nortel eNodeB

Panasonic Mobile

Communications

NTT's Super 3G (LTE) Base Station project

Powerwave Technologies Base station solutions supporting LTE

Radiocomp Remote Radio Heads for 3GPP LTE

Samsung Electronics eNodeB

ZTE ZXSDR R8860 Multi-Mode Outdoor RRU, ZXSDR B8200

Multi-Mode Indoor BBU



The radio/base-station side of LTE sees the introduction of new capabilities intended to simplify

the rollout and management of mobile broadband networks -- and, of course, to lower costs.

These include features such as plug-and-play, self configuration, and self optimization, and

mean that the eNodeB represents a further level of sophistication in radio base stations and an

increase in the intelligence residing at the network edge.

Unsurprisingly, software plays a crucial role in the eNodeB, and one approach to this product

category is through a software upgrade/addition to an existing product. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:

ALU) has done this with an LTE software module that can be loaded onto its 9326 Digital 2U

eNodeB, already used by many of the company’s existing 3G customers. An obvious point of the

approach is to give operators flexibility in deploying LTE into a 3G environment -- profitable

hotspots can be targeted first, for example.


9 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

The use of software-defined radio (SDR) technologies means that LTE is thus often appearing

as one option in multistandard radio/base-station products. As an example, Motorola has a

common wireless broadband platform that will be used to support both WiMax 802.16e access

points and the LTE eNodeB, and the company’s CTU4 and RCTU4 base-station radios support

GSM, E-EDGE, and LTE.

Partly because LTE is being rolled out during a huge economic downturn, which is in turn

taking place against an increasingly dismal background of energy and environmental issues,

vendors are pushing hard the message that the new generation of base stations will be smaller

and less power hungry, will be cheaper to operate, and will have lower adverse environmental

effects than the than the old generation.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) is thus a vendor trying to have it all ways with its EVO RAN

(February 2009), which it bills as “a Radio Access Network (RAN) solution enabling operators to

run GSM, WCDMA and LTE as a single network.” And the vendor claims lower costs and

reduced power consumption into the bargain.

Spectrum issues

An issue with LTE rollout is spectrum availability and use, as the new radio technology needs

new radio spectrum -- existing non-LTE networks are not being closed to release their

spectrum. A fundamental point is that, as already stated, LTE may operate either in FDD or

TDD modes, and spectrum allocations will mandate which. So vendors have an interest in

producing equipment that can operate in either mode, and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

claimed to have demonstrated the world's first unified FDD/TDD LTE system at the February

2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company says that this will enable operators to

use spectrum more efficiently and help to lower costs.

A related point is that the LTE spectrum allocations potentially span a wide range of

frequencies, some of which would be more commonly used globally than others. Radiocomp

has thus argued that the current economic downturn makes it problematic that

cost-competitive radio network solutions will be developed for all LTE frequency bands, so that

mobile operators with non-mainstream frequency bands might find it difficult to procure

suitable equipment. To mitigate this, the company has launched (February 2009) a range of

software-configurable remote radio heads (RRHs), which span the LTE band from 700MHz to

2.5GHz and which it describes somewhat gushily as “basically super-compact, high-performance

LTE base stations that connect to the rest of the network over optical fibers using OBSAI or

CPRI.”

Another vendor that has recently jumped on the LTE RHH bandwagon is Axis Network

Technology Ltd. , which announced (September 2008) a family of OEM RRH products for the

2.3-2.7GHz frequency bands. The company says that an RRH allows the radio to be located

alongside the antennas and physically separated from the base station, thereby eliminating the

losses associated with long RF cable runs (typically around 3dB per cable) as an optical-fiber

data interface (such as OBSAI or CPRI) is used instead. This means, the company says, that a

single MIMO RRH with 10W output power will provide greater coverage than a 40W SISO

ground-based base station, with a consequent reduction in power and energy consumption.

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. is an example of a vendor using such an architecture --

its BroadOne LS LTE eNodeB base station family (February 2009) has a distributed architecture,

consisting of an RRH and a baseband unit (BBU). The BBU is available in indoor or outdoor

models, while the RRH is designed to take advantage of the lower operational cost of an

all-outdoor deployment, the company says.


10 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

Next Page: LTE Core

LTE Core

The LTE Core is essentially an evolution of the existing GSM/WCDMA core network – hence the

Evolved Packet Core (EPC) moniker – but it is also being developed to ease interworking with

the CDMA standards, so that operators using these, too, can evolve their networks into LTE

ones. As already stated, the EPC aims at simplification and contains:

A control-plane node -- the Mobility Management Entity (MME)

A data-plane gateway -- the SAE Gateway (which can be split into a separate Serving

Gateway and a Packet Data Network Gateway)

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) has pointed out that the new LTE EPC presents gateway

vendors with some interesting challenges, such as:

Data traffic loads are going to be much higher than for current networks. One reason is

obvious -- by design, LTE offers much higher bandwidths than existing networks and

encourages applications that will use them. Less obvious is the fact that LTE does not

support circuit-switched voice traffic directly, so voice has to be carried as VOIP. Thus

gateways will be flooded with vast numbers of small VOIP packets as well.

The all-IP nature of LTE makes the network operate in an always-on fashion, which both

drives up the gateway session counts (and hence loadings) and imposes severe

requirements on gateway reliability and availability.

The central role that the EPC is going to play in the development of mobile broadband has

encouraged vendors to fall over themselves in their efforts to introduce EPC solutions. Table 3

lists vendors and examples of LTE Core products ("solution" tends to be the polite term for

something as big and complicated as an EPC), and its worth noting that Allot Communications

Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALLT), Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks , Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Korea:

SEC), Starent Networks Corp. (Nasdaq: STAR), and Tecore Networks Inc. all jumped in with

new product launches at the February 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Other

vendors, such as Cisco Systems and Hitachi Communication Technologies, have announced that

they are developing EPC products. In short, the telecom infrastructure heavyweights are all

involved.

Table 3: Vendors & Examples of LTE Core Products

Vendor Core products include

Alcatel-Lucent Evolved Packet Core

Allot Communications Service Gateway Sigma (SG-Sigma)

Cisco Systems (Developing EPC Serving Gateway (SGW) and the Packet Data

Node (PDN) gateway)

Ericsson Evolved Packet Core portfolio -- SGSN/MME, Mobile Packet

Gateway, Converged Packet Gateway


Technologies

(Developing products)

Huawei Technologoes Evolved Packet Core


11 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

IntelliNet Technologies LTE gateways

NEC Evolved Packet Core

Nokia Siemens Networks EPC -- Flexi Network Server, Flexi Network Gateway

Nortel LTE Access Gateway, Evolved Packet Core

Samsung Electronics EPC -- MME, S-GW/P-GW

Starent Networks Evolved Packet Core

Sonus Networks MobilEdge Access Node (within Sonus mobilEvolution

architecture)

Stoke LTE SAE Gateway (via SSX 3000)

Tecore Networks ICore LTE

Traffix Systems Rosetta Diameter Gateway

WiChorus SmartCore EPC platforms

ZTE Evolved Packet Core



The EPC is a rich field for product/solution development partly because of the many possibilities

for collocating LTE and non-LTE functions within nodes. Starent Networks, for example, cites

the possibility of an EPC Mobility Management Entity (MME) combined with a 2G/3G SGSN, a

Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) and GGSN, and an HRPD Serving Gateway (HSGW) and

PDSN. Such flexibility will help upgrading and migration to LTE.

The issue of the relation of LTE to existing circuit-switched voice services has led to the recent

formation of the Voice over LTE via Generic Access (VoLGA) Forum , whose founders include

Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea:

6657.KS) , Motorola, Nortel Networks Ltd. , Samsung Electronics, Starent Networks, T-Mobile

International AG , and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763). (See Forum Tackles

Voice Over LTE.) The basic argument here is that many operators may be unwilling to build a

new IMS-based VOIP network to run in parallel with their existing huge investments in

core-network R4 voice circuit switches just so that they can offer voice services immediately on

their new LTE networks. However, an initial data-only play on LTE could be risky, as voice/SMS

are primary revenue-generating services.

The approach of the VoLGA Forum is to define a new node (the VAN-C) which sits in or behind

the EPC (and behind the MME) and which connects to the existing R4 switches. This presents

circuit-switched voice as a packet application (resembling any other IMS-based packet

application) to the handset or user device (see Figure 4). The new work is felt to be necessary

because of dissatisfaction with the only existing defined way to use the circuit-switched core

network for voice over LTE -- CS-Fallback.

Figure 4: On the VAN-Cs of the VoLGA


12 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

Source: VoLGA Forum, 2009

The VAN-C uses the 3GPP Generic Access Network (GAN) standard, and requires no change to

existing MSCs and operational systems. It supports:

All circuit services over LTE

IMS RCS and combinational services (CS+IMS) over LTE

Handover of active calls between LTE and GSM/UMTS

Expected LTE femtocell deployments

The goal is to have a 3GPP specification for VoLGA eventually. Vendors are, of course, pushing

their own solutions to the LTE/voice issue. Nokia Siemens Networks, for example, has

announced (no surprises, February 2009) its Fast Track VoLTE (voice over LTE), comprising

software and hardware upgrades to existing 3GPP circuit-switch core networks. These allow the

company’s customers to use their existing mobile softswitching and NVS VoIP server

infrastructure to manage voice traffic over the LTE network before an eventual migration to

IMS.

Next Page: Silicon, Platforms, Subsystems & Software

Silicon, Platforms, Subsystems & Software

LTE equipment of all types makes extensive use of chipsets, software, and specialized

subsystems, and the industry has responded through a growing ecosystem of vendors and

products to support the technology. Within the space limitations of a Who Makes What it is

impossible to list every type of RF or digital device, for example, that might make its way into a

finished LTE product, especially as there is a lot of commonality at the component level with

other technologies. So this section tries merely to round up some of the more recent


13 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

developments that have a specific bearing on LTE.

Typically, an LTE base station or user device needs semiconductor and other components to

perform the following major functions:

RF frontend

Baseband processing (the LTE Layer 2 MAC and Layer 1 OFDM PHY)

Network interfacing

Control

Chipsets are available that integrate some of these functions within a single chip. For example,

Wintegra Inc. ’s WinPath3 W series processors combine the real-time IP packet processing of

both the radio baseband and network-interface protocols, the point being to reduce cost and

power consumption.

Table 4 lists vendors and examples of LTE silicon and platform products, and Table 5 does the

same for LTE software and protocol products. Technically, the silicon and the software sides are

closely related because, as Aricent Inc. points out, LTE presents new challenges as the new

radio components require the re-engineering of the Layer 1 (Physical) and Layer 2 (Media

Access Control) software used in an eNodeB. The company has thus launched (September

2008) its LTE eNodeB development suite to offer a combination of software and development

services to accelerate the prototyping and development of new chipsets and testing systems for

LTE.

Table 4: Vendors & Examples of LTE Silicon / Platform / Subsystem Products

Vendor Silicon / Platform / Subsystem products include

Altair

Semiconductor

(In development) FourGee-3100 LTE CAT-3 baseband processor

(supporting also WiMAX and XGP), FourGee-6150 MIMO RF transceiver

supporting LTE-TDD, FourGee-6200 multiband LTE-FDD MIMO transceiver

Altera Corporation SOCs for LTE RF Remote Radio Heads, Channel Cards (Modem/Baseband)

and Switch Cards

Analog Devices Various LTE applicable RF+ DSP devices

BitWave

Semiconductor

BW1102 Softransceiver RFIC

Cavium Networks OCTEON Multi-core MIPS64 processors

CommAgility AMC-3C87F3 DSP and FPGA embedded signal-processing AMC board for

wireless baseband solutions, including WiMax and LTE

ComSys ComMAX LT8000mobile baseband processor

Ericsson M700 mobile platform

Freescale

Semiconductor

MSC8156 DSP

IPWireless (LTE chipsets in development)

LG Electronics Handset modem chip (in development)

Lime

Microsystems

LMS6002 multiband multistandard RF transceiver IC


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LSI Corporation APP3300 Network Processor

MYMO Wireless

Technology

Developing IP Cores & Reference Products: Physical Layer and MAC for

3GPP LTE. Prototypes and Reference designs: LTE UE & BS. Platforms:

DSP, FPGA, ASIC and customized reference platforms

Percello Aquilo femtocell SOC family

picoChip PC8618 picocell and PC8608 femtocell platforms

Qualcom MDM9xxx-series LTE device chipsets

RMI XLR processor family

Sandbridge

Technologies

SB3500 flexible baseband processor

ST-Ericsson M700 mobile platform

Texas Instruments LTE developmental ecosystem

Ubidyne uB900 Antenna Embedded Digital Radio

Wavesat Odyssey 9000 under development (release due in third quarter 2009)

Wintegra WinPath3 W series processors


Table 5: Vendors & Examples of LTE Software/Protocol Products

Vendor Software / Protocol products include

4M Wireless PS100 LTE protocol stack

Aricent LTE Evolved Node B (eNodeB) development suite

Continuous

Computing

Trillium Long Term Evolution (LTE)

IntelliNet

Technologies

LTE protocol stacks

IPWireless (LTE software in development)

Kineto Wireless Gateway software

LNT Infotech LTE User Equipment Stack Implementation consisting of L2, L3 and NAS

layers optimized for the ARM Target Platform, LTE Diameter solutions

(such as HSS, OCS/OFCS)

MimoOn mi!Femto, mi!Infra, mi!Mobile

Nomor Research LTE Protocol Stack Library, LTE eNB Emulator

Qasara LTE Protocol Stack, LTE Protocol Engine, LTE Virtual UE

Tata Consultancy

Services

LTE eNodeB Physical layer (PHY), eNodeB higher layer protocol stacks (

RLC, MAC, PDCP, RRC)

Texas

Instruments

LTE developmental ecosystem

Traffix Systems OpenBloX LTE Diameter stack


15 of 20 5/27/2011 10:05 AM

Wintegra LTE protocols


LTE involves a wide range of protocols, and there has naturally been something of a rush to

make these stacks available -- 4M Wireless, Continuous Computing Corp. , and Wintegra, for

example, have all released stacks since mid-2008. As an example of what is available,

Continuous’s Trillium LTE protocol software includes Diameter, S1-AP, eGTP, GTP, MAC, PDCP,

RLC, RRC, and X2-AP, and supports LTE femtocells, macro/pico LTE base stations, and the

network elements within the EPC. They are multithreaded for multicore/multithreaded

processors, and include reference applications for relevant LTE interfaces, such as LTE-Uu, S1,

S5, S6, S7, S10, and X2.

Of course, some vendors, such as Wintegra, are also producers of network-processor chips and

other silicon devices, and the result is the offering of specific silicon/software platforms for LTE

devices. As an aside, the arrival of LTE adds yet another wireless protocol set to an already

extensive list that includes 1xRTT, AM/FM, AMPS, Bluetooth, CDMA, CDMA2000, CDPD, DAB,

DECT, DMB, DVB-H, EV-DO Rev 0 / Rev A, GPS, GSM, HSDPA, HSUPA, MediaFLO, NAMPS, UWB,

WCDMA, WiBro, Wi-Fi, and WiMax. It is not surprising that some vendors, such as BitWave

Semiconductor Inc. , are promoting software-defined radio or programmable RF platforms as a

means of producing the cost-effective multistandards handsets that will be needed for the

rollout of LTE within an existing non-LTE environment. (See Figure 5.)

Figure 5: What Software Can Do to Radio

Source: BitWave Semiconductor, 2009

More generally, BitWave also argues that the numerous available bandwidths, spectrum bands,

modulation methods, duplex modes, and MIMO configurations create many different

combinations for the handset manufacturer, making it expensive and risky to place a bet on

just one single combination, given the cost of RF silicon. In contrast, programmable RF devices


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mean that OEMs will take on less risk in picking product use cases because they can later

change characteristics such as frequencies, bandwidths and so on.

Table 4 shows that there is a considerable number of small (and generally fabless)

semiconductor houses involved in LTE, and the number is potentially larger as there is a close

connection between WiMax and LTE silicon -- the RF aspects of the technologies are very

similar, for example. Several companies (for example DesignArt Networks and the not-so-small

Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702; London: FUJ; OTC: FJTSY)) have WiMax system-on-chips (SOCs), and

also state their expertise and interest in LTE -- but do not have commercial products yet.

Indeed, analysts are already beginning to forecast a coming shakeout in LTE and WiMax silicon.

(See, for example, the November 2008 Light Reading Insider 4G Chips: WiMax/LTE

Technology & Components.)

With so many vendors involved, there has been a flurry of new LTE silicon devices announced

or released over the last year, with much of the effort directed toward handset/user-device,

picocell, and femotcell application. Some vendors (such as picoChip Designs Ltd. ) are pushing

the argument that the bulk of LTE’s rollout will be via very small cells, with the consequence

that a premium will be put on devices with self-configuration and self-optimization features so

as to reduce operators’ capital and operational costs. However, one major operator, Verizon,

appears to have pooh-poohed that approach for its initial rollouts (see No Femtos in Verizon's

First LTE Rollout).

But self-configuration/optimization or not, there is no doubt that LTE makes big demands on

processors because of the high data rates and low latencies involved. Freescale Semiconductor

Inc. , for example, has introduced (November 2008) its MSC8156 base-station processor with

twice the performance of its previous fastest digital signal processor. And LG Electronics

claimed a world first in December 2008 with a 13 x 13mm handset modem chip, potentially

able to support 100Mbit/s downstream and 50Mbit/s upstream.

Next Page: Test & Measurement

Test & Measurement

T&M vendors are always very busy when new network technologies come along, and LTE is no

exception. Table 6 gives a taste of this by listing some of the LTE T&M products that vendors

have launched recently, mainly over the last year.

Table 6: Some Recent LTE T&M Products

Vendor Test and measurement products include

ABIT Air Protocol Analyzer series

Aeroflex TM500 LTE Test Mobile platform, 7100 Digital Radio Test Set

Agilent Technologies E6620A Wireless Communications Test Set

Anite Nemo Network Testing Solutions with LTE support, LTE Development

Toolset

Anritsu MD8430A Base Station Simulator, MD8435A LTE UE Simulator

AT4 Wireless LTE Protocol Tester T4110

Azimuth Systems ACE MX MIMO Channel Emulator


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Catapult

Communications

DCT2000/LTE Network Element Simulator

CommScope/Andrew Invex.NxG i.Scan Test Receiver

Dyaptive Systems DMTS-9200 LTE Network Load and Performance Test System

ERCOM LTE eNodeB Mobipass test range

Gambit

Communications

MIMIC Wireless Simulator for 3G/4G Wireless (WiMAX, Wi-Fi, LTE)

Keithley Instruments MIMO RF Test Systems

LNT Infotech LTE simulators (such as EPC Call simulator, SGSN simulator),

TTCN3-based LTE conformance test suites

MimoOn mi!TestMOBILE

NetHawk NetHawk M5 protocol analysis platform, NetHawk EAST LTE simulator

Polaris Networks Protocol conformance testers, load testers and network device

emulators (eNodeB, MME, S-GW)

Prisma Engineering LSUv3 Radio for multiterminal testing over the radio interface

Qasara LTE eNodeB System Simulator

Rohde & Schwarz R&S TS8980 RF test system for development of LTE-compatible

mobile stations

Sanjole WaveJudge 4900 LTE

Setcom Wireless S-CORE conformance and research test environment for LTE

Signalion SORBAS 3GPP LTE Test-UE

Spirent

Communications

Landslide LTE Test Applications (EPC Gateways and MME), SR5500

Wireless Channel Emulator

Tata Consultancy

Services

Proprietary verification tools for wireless baseband systems

Tektronix

Communications

G35-LTE: Simulation and Load Generation, K2AirLTE Uu Interface

monitoring platform, NSA-LTE: Troubleshooting and Performance

Analysis


Most of this effort has gone into the RF/air-interface aspects and eNodeB functionality, as this is

where much of the newness and complexity of LTE reside. Further, as Tektronix

Communications points out, the new LTE architecture reduces the amount of information on

access-network performance -- such as congestion, interference, and coverage issues --

that can be deduced from measurements on wireline network interfaces through traditional

network and service analyzers. This is because the eNodeB has become more intelligent and

handles access control functions itself, rather than referring back to the core.

This means, Tektronix says, that vendors and operators are being pushed into looking directly

into the air interface for information on network access performance and service quality, and so

need to be able to correlate this analysis with data related to other network interfaces. Hence


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the launch at the Barcelona February 2009 Mobile World Congress of the company’s K2Air

probe. This monitors up to 300 UEs in parallel on the air interface in real time and correlates

this information with data on fixed LTE as well as legacy 2G and 3G interfaces, allowing

end-to-end monitoring of network and network-element performance.

Naturally, another important area of T&M emphasis is product development systems for

chipset designers, software developers, and handset vendors. At one end of the scale are single

benchtop instruments, such as Aeroflex Inc. (Nasdaq: ARXX)’s 7100 Digital Radio Test Set

(November 2008), which has an integrated RF interface, baseband, and protocol stack. The

vendor says the device simulates the network from the physical layer to the core network IP

infrastructure, and provides both parametric analysis and protocol logging and diagnostics.

End-to-end IP connectivity allows the data throughput performance and latency to be assessed.

A base frequency range of up to 6GHz is intended to cope with both current and potential

future spectrum allocations.

At the other end of the scale are large multiproduct systems intended to cover the complete

lifecycle of LTE UE development, production, and use, including both automation tools and

instrumentation. As an example of a big, busy player in this area, Agilent Technologies Inc.

(NYSE: A) has:

Launched LTE protocol development solutions based on the E6620A Wireless

Communications Test Set, along with the Anite SAT LTE Protocol Development Toolset

Added LTE and SAE to the J7910A signaling analyzer real-time platform

Offered the MXA signal analyzer with Vector Signal Analysis LTE software, and the MXG

vector signal generator with LTE Signal Studio software

Launched the LTE TDD Wireless Library (W1910/E8895) for Agilent SystemVue and

Advanced Design System (ADS)

Launched the N7625B Signal Studio for LTE TDD -- a PC-based software application for

creating standards-based TD-LTE signals

Launched 89600 VSA software to provide LTE TDD signal analysis tools, physical layer

testing and troubleshooting of LTE transceivers and components

Launched the PXB MIMO Receiver Tester for LTE real-time signal generation and channel

emulation for base-station testing.

As the last item in the list shows, the use of MIMO antenna technology brings its own T&M

requirements. Still in the A's, another vendor, Azimuth Systems Inc. , is majoring on this with

the launch (February 2009) of its ACE MX MIMO Channel Emulator, which the company

describes as a purpose-built, enhanced testing solution designed to meet the needs of MIMO

and OFDM systems, arguing that the proper laboratory testing of MIMO systems requires the

use of rich channel modeling and emulation techniques such as dynamic channel conditioning,

shadow fading, and complex antenna correlation.

Emulation is also the name of the game for vendors such as mimoOn GmbH and Prisma

Engineering S.r.l. , whose product lines include software-defined radios (SDRs) for emulating a

range of LTE radio devices for test and development purposes. And emulation in a further

sense is the domain of ERCOM’s new LTE eNodeB Mobipass (February 2009), which provides

both subsystem and full-system eNodeB functional and load test scenario based on the

emulation of all LTE interfaces, including CPRI-based and RF-based UE-emulation.

— Tim Hills is a freelance telecommunications writer and journalist. He's a regular author of

Light Reading reports.


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