picoChip and Wintegra Partner on WiMAX Basestation Designs

November 03, 2005

picoChip and Wintegra recently announced joint development of reference designs for a new generation of WiMAX basestations. These designs, based on standard components already on the market, provide a framework from which equipment manufacturers can implement a wide range of 802.16e compliant basestation products. This dramatically reduces the time and cost for OEMs to develop systems, while still enabling complete flexibility and programmability.

The solutions combine picoChip's picoArray family of massively parallel DSPs and industry-leading software for the WiMAX PHY with Wintegra's WinMax processor and software for a complete MAC solution. Coupled with Wintegra's WinPath family of access packet processors and software for transport and backhaul functionality, the joint reference designs offer unmatched flexibility for both radio (air) interface access cards and network interface transport cards, with scalability to cover pico, micro and macro basestation architectures.

To date, most WiMAX reference designs have focused solely on "closed" board-level solutions, providing benefits for those seeking to directly manufacture the design, but provide little flexibility for those seeking to add their own features. The picoChip-Wintegra design offers the same benefits of complete integration and interoperability testing, while retaining a programmable, scalable, open approach enabling OEMs to customize and differentiate their offerings.

The design will initially target the 802.16e standard, and will provide a flexible, scalable, software-based upgrade path as new requirements appear in this emerging market. Operators will also benefit from the scalability and flexibility of the Wintegra and picoChip architecture as it will allow them to undertake field software upgrades, avoiding the need for expensive hardware improvements or replacement programs.

The joint reference design is targeted for completion in late 2005.