Texas Instruments and PureWave Networks develop industry-leading solutions platform for enterprise and pico small cell base stations

Single-board platform provides OEMs with the fastest way to demonstrate, evaluate and develop small cell base stations

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Feb 24, 2014, 12:00 ET

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) and PureWave Networks, Inc., an innovative provider of advanced, cost-effective wireless base stations, announced their collaboration on a first-of-its-kind single-board, end-to-end (ENET to RF) solution platform for enterprise and pico small cell base stations. The Hercules solutions platform utilizes TI's highly-integrated KeyStone^TM-based TCI6630K2L System-on-Chip (SoC), combined with TI's analog front end transceiver, the AFE7500, allowing customers to demonstrate 4G cellular functionality and performance right out of the box. This innovative platform is production optimized with BOM, schematics and layout files available for developers to use as a hardware design reference to speed time to market. Customers will receive a fully programmable solution that can be customized for Enterprise Power over Ethernet (PoE) + use cases and pico outdoor applications, while enabling 802.11ac/n Wi-Fi integration.

"Purewave and TI are delivering the most robust, full featured demonstration, evaluation and development solution in the market to small cell OEMs," said Cal Parsons, marketing manager, small cell processors, TI. "By collaborating with PureWave, we are providing a system level solution that speeds time to market and allows OEMs to develop differentiated enterprise and pico small cells on one platform."

"PureWave's vision behind the Hercules Small Cell Solution Platform is that it will not only form the basis of PureWave's own next-generation small cell platforms and products, but also act as a catalyst to boost the proliferation of high-performance small cell base stations into 4G deployments worldwide," said Dan Picker, CTO of PureWave Networks. "The combination of TI's highly integrated and innovative new chipset, coupled with a scalable and modular design approach, results in a truly revolutionary platform with unprecedented performance and flexibility."

The Hercules solutions platform is capable of supporting 32 to 128 simultaneous active users for LTE FDD and TDD, LTE Rel'10 with Intra and Inter-band carrier aggregation, WCDMA, tri-mode, as well as 4x4 multiple input multiple output (MIMO) by utilizing the TCI6630K2L SoC's integrated digital radio front end and incorporating two AFE7500 RFICs. The Hercules platform is a production optimized design while allowing for customization for specific use cases, such as PoE, and expansion through PCIe/SGMII ports enabling the Wi-Fi solution of your choice.

The platform integrates TI's high-performance Base Station SoftwarePac, a production ready small cell Physical (PHY) software package, including the industry's highest performance and most robust LTE PHY, and Purewave's application software. This complete software architecture allows manufacturers to save time, resources, and budget so that they can allocate those resources on differentiating their small cell products according to different network operators' needs.

In conjunction with the Hercules solutions platform, Quantenna Communications has developed an 802.11ac Wi-Fi expansion card that connects over ENET (SGMII) to the TCI6630K2L SoC, to create the industry's lowest BOM and highest performance Wi-Fi + LTE solution. Quantenna's unique Wi-Fi architecture delivers the performance needed for indoor and outdoor small cells with 802.11ac and 802.11n dual concurrent solutions, while utilizing the TCI6630K2L's integrated network co-processor and completely offloading the ARM® Cortex® -A15 CPU cores.

"Quantenna is excited to enable the new TI small cell platform with its latest 802.11ac 4x4 Wi-Fi chipset," said Lionel Bonnot, Senior VP of Business Development at Quantenna Communications "Indoor and Outdoor Wi-Fi enabled small cells benefit from Quantenna's best in class performance and coverage."

Availability
TI is displaying the first Hercules boards in their meeting room at Mobile World Congress. Customers can order the Hercules solutions platform from Purewave Networks starting in 2Q14.

For more information:

Read the TCI6630K2L product bulletin and wireless backhaul white paper
Watch the TCI6630K2L product video and Ask The Experts video
Visit TI's new small cell website
Keep up with the latest happenings on the Multicore Mix blog
Engage with engineers and TI experts on the TI E2E™ Community
Follow TI on Twitter
Become a fan of TI on Facebook

About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.

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SOURCE Texas Instruments