LTE Baseband, RF, Application Processors-A Heavy Reading Competitve Analysis

HEAVY READING | VOL. 9, NO.
9, OCTOBER 2011 | LTE BASEBAND, RF & APPLICATION PROCESSORS

Heavy Reading Independent quantitative research and
competitive analysis of next-generation hardware and soft-
ware solutions for service providers and vendors

KEY FINDINGS
A full ecosystem,
including more than
50 silicon devices, has
developed specifically
to support LTE
Carrier commitment
to LTE continues to
grow, now up to 166
operators across 62
countries worldwide
100Mbit/s Cat 3 LTE
is now supported by
the majority of LTE
silicon; 150Mbit/s Cat
4 is in the pipeline
The first LTE-
Advanced features
are now becoming
available in silicon
Vendor consolidation
is driving a highly
competitive handset
silicon market
ARM A9 application
processors are used
by most vendors; the
first A15 cores will
arrive by end 2011
Multimode handsets
supporting 2G, 3G,
and LTE will be the
next wave of devices,
starting in 2012
VOL. 9, NO. 9, OCTOBER 2011
LTE Baseband, RF & Appl ication
Processors: A Heavy Readi ng
Competiti ve Anal ysi s

LTE is the fastest-growing wireless network technology with more
than 160 operators across 62 countries committed to LTE. In less
than two years, more than 20 operators have commercially
launched LTE networks in 16 countries. The number of user
devices supporting LTE has grown by more than 60 percent in
four months. Mobile carriers have chosen LTE to deliver high-
speed data services up to 150Mbit/s initially, then up to 3 Gbit/s
within five years, once LTE-Advanced is fully implemented.

The first LTE devices are in production and second generation
solutions are almost ready. Established mobile chipset vendors
and silicon vendors are pushing to deliver integrated solutions for
multimode handset devices and micro, pico, and femto base
stations. The established vendors are being challenges by a
group of Tier 2 vendors with established credibility in either the
HSPA or WiMax markets that have developed LTE silicon
solutions with market-leading features.

This report delivers a complete competitive analysis of LTE
silicon solutions from 29 vendors, covering more than 70 different
products and product families. The report offers detailed competi-
tive analysis on LTE baseband, RF and application processors
for user devices and base stations, covering key product fea-
tures, as well as power, price, and availability.

AUTHOR: SIMON STANLEY, ANALYST AT LARGE, HEAVY READING
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HEAVY READING | VOL. 9, NO. 9, OCTOBER 2011 | LTE BASEBAND, RF & APPLICATION PROCESSORS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION & KEY FINDINGS .................................................................................. 4
1.1 Key Findings ....................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Report Scope & Structure ................................................................................................... 6
II. LTE MARKETS & TECHNOLOGY .................................................................................... 7
2.1 Market Overview ................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 LTE Technology Primer ...................................................................................................... 8
2.3 LTE-Advanced .................................................................................................................. 11
2.4 LTE IP Solutions ............................................................................................................... 11
III. BASE STATION DEVICES & SOLUTIONS .................................................................... 13
3.1 LTE Base Station PHY Devices ....................................................................................... 13
3.2 LTE Base Station PHY Devices ....................................................................................... 14
3.3 LTE Base Station MAC & Control Devices ....................................................................... 15
3.4 Integrated LTE Base Station Devices .............................................................................. 16
IV. BASE STATION SILICON VENDORS ............................................................................ 20
4.1 Cavium Inc. ....................................................................................................................... 20
4.2 DesignArt Networks Ltd. ................................................................................................... 21
4.3 Freescale Semiconductor Inc. .......................................................................................... 22
4.4 LSI Corp. ........................................................................................................................... 23
4.5 Mindspeed Technologies Inc. ........................................................................................... 24
4.6 NetLogic Microsystems Inc. .............................................................................................. 24
4.7 Octasic Inc. ....................................................................................................................... 25
4.8 Picochip Ltd. ..................................................................................................................... 26
4.9 PMC-Sierra Inc. ................................................................................................................ 26
4.10 Texas Instruments Inc. ..................................................................................................... 27
V. HANDSET & CPE DEVICES ........................................................................................... 28
5.1 LTE CPE & Handset Baseband Devices .......................................................................... 28
5.2 LTE Ready Application Processors .................................................................................. 30
VI. HANDSET & CPE SILICON VENDORS .......................................................................... 33
6.1 Altair Semiconductor Ltd. ................................................................................................. 33
6.2 Broadcom Corp. ............................................................................................................... 34
6.3 Cavium Inc. ....................................................................................................................... 34
6.4 GCT Semiconductor Inc. .................................................................................................. 34
6.5 Innofidei Inc. ..................................................................................................................... 35
6.6 Intel Corp. ......................................................................................................................... 35
6.7 Marvell Technology Group Ltd. ........................................................................................ 35
6.7 Nvidia Inc. ......................................................................................................................... 35
6.8 Qualcomm Inc................................................................................................................... 36
6.9 Renesas Mobile ................................................................................................................ 36
6.10 Sequans Communications ................................................................................................ 36
6.11 ST-Ericsson ...................................................................................................................... 37

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6.12 Texas Instruments Inc. ..................................................................................................... 37
VII. RF CHIPS & VENDORS .................................................................................................. 38
7.1 Analog Devices Inc. .......................................................................................................... 41
7.2 Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. ............................................................................... 41
7.3 Genasic Design Systems Ltd. .......................................................................................... 41
7.4 Lime Microsystems Ltd. .................................................................................................... 41
7.5 Maxim Integrated Products Inc. ........................................................................................ 42
7.6 Semtech Corp. .................................................................................................................. 42
APPENDIX A: ABOUT THE AUTHOR ......................................................................................... 43
APPENDIX B: LEGAL DISCLAIMER ........................................................................................... 44

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Worldwide LTE Subscribers ........................................................................................... 7
Figure 2.2: 3GPP Release 8 User Equipment Categories ............................................................... 9
Figure 2.3: LTE Radio Interface Architecture ................................................................................... 9
Figure 2.4: System Architecture Evolution (SAE) ........................................................................... 10
Figure 2.5: 3G/LTE System Architecture ........................................................................................ 11
Figure 3.1: LTE Base Stations ........................................................................................................ 13
Figure 3.2: eNodeB ........................................................................................................................ 13
Figure 3.3: LTE PHY Device Summary .......................................................................................... 14
Figure 3.4: LTE PHY Device Features ........................................................................................... 15
Figure 3.5: LTE MAC & Control Devices ........................................................................................ 16
Figure 3.6: Integrated LTE Base Stations Device Summary .......................................................... 16
Figure 3.7: Integrated LTE Device Features .................................................................................. 18
Figure 4.1: Base Station Silicon Vendors ....................................................................................... 20
Figure 4.2: Octeon II CN66XX Block Diagram ............................................................................... 21
Figure 4.3: DesignArt DAN3000 Family ......................................................................................... 22
Figure 4.4: LSI ACP34xx Axxia Multicore Processor ..................................................................... 23
Figure 4.5: NetLogic XLP Multicore Processor .............................................................................. 24
Figure 4.6: Octasic OCT2224W Block Diagram ............................................................................. 25
Figure 4.7: Picochip PC500 Block Diagram ................................................................................... 26
Figure 5.1: LTE Subscriber Unit ..................................................................................................... 28
Figure 5.2: LTE CPE & Handset Device Summary ........................................................................ 29
Figure 5.3: LTE CPE & Handset Device Features ......................................................................... 30
Figure 5.4: LTE Ready Application Processor Summary ............................................................... 31
Figure 5.5: LTE Ready Application Processor Features ................................................................ 32
Figure 6.1: Handset/CPE Silicon Vendors ..................................................................................... 33
Figure 7.1: LTE RF Device Applications ........................................................................................ 38
Figure 7.2: LTE RF Device Summary ............................................................................................ 39
Figure 7.3: LTE RF Device Details ................................................................................................. 40


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I. Introduction & Key Findings
Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployments are growing quickly, with 166 carriers in 62 countries
now committed to using it. LTE provides the reduced latency, increased peak bandwidth and
greater network capacity required for the advanced voice, data and video applications made
possible by the latest smartphones. HD video is only the latest in a stream of new applications
that is stretching 3G networks to the breaking point.

Mobile carriers need LTE to deliver high-quality services to smartphone users. LTE is the leading
4G wireless network and is backward compatible with existing solutions. LTE and LTE-Advanced
will meet the long-term needs of carriers and their customers for high-speed data traffic support-
ing Internet browsing, voice and video.

Semiconductor components are key to the successful rollout of LTE networks around the world.
As LTE develops and LTE-Advanced is introduced, there is pressure on semiconductor vendors
to introduce devices supporting additional frequency bands and a complex mix of networks,
bandwidths and performance. To meet these challenges, semiconductor vendors must develop
flexible and highly integrated devices that meet the performance criteria of carriers and deliver
cost-effective, power-efficient solutions.

The LTE semiconductor market is very competitive, with multiple vendors developing application
processors, baseband and radio frequency (RF) devices for both base stations and user equip-
ment. With LTE, we are seeing components developed by existing application processor, mobile
baseband and RF market leaders; startups targeting the LTE market; and well-established
companies shifting from WiMax to LTE. There have also been several high-profile acquisitions
that have brought application processor and baseband developers into one company, including
ST-Ericsson, Renasas, Intel and Nvidia.

LTE Baseband, RF & Application Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Anal ysi s
identifies and analyzes the full spectrum of vendors developing LTE components for both base
stations and user devices. The report includes not only granular information on the components
and systems themselves of interest to system OEMs, smartphone developers and service
providers but also insights into how the overall market and ecosystem is developing of
interest to a wide audience, including investors.

The report evaluates and analyzes the products and strategies of 29 leading vendors in this
rapidly growing market, including more than 70 baseband, RF and application processors from
these companies. The vendors covered in this report are:

Altair Semiconductor Ltd.
Altera Corp. (Nasdaq: ALTR)
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI)
Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM)
Cavium Inc. (Nasdaq: CAVM)
DesignArt Networks Ltd.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL)
Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd. (TSE: 6702; Pink
Sheets: FJ TSY)
GCT Semiconductor Inc.
Genasic Design Systems Ltd.

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Innofidei Inc.
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)
Lime Microsystems Ltd.
LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI)
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL)
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (Nasdaq: MXIM)
Mindspeed Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: MSPD)
NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: NETL)
Nvidia Inc. (Nasdaq: NVDA)
Octasic Inc.
Picochip Ltd.
PMC-Sierra Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS)
Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM)
Renesas Mobile, a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corp. (TSE: 6723)
Semtech Corp. (Nasdaq: SMTC)
Sequans Communications
ST-Ericsson, a joint venture of STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) and Ericsson AB
(Nasdaq: ERIC)
Tensilica Inc.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN)
Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX)
1.1 Key Findings
Key findings of this report include the following:

A full LTE ecosystem, including more than 50 sili con devices, has developed specificall y
to support LTE. Of the more than 70 silicon devices covered in this report, more than 50 have
been designed specifically for LTE or have had features added to support LTE.

Carrier commitment to LTE continues to grow, now including 166 operators across 62
countries. A total of 24 operators have launched commercial LTE networks in 16 countries,
making LTE the fastest-growing wireless technology in the world.

The majority of LTE sili con supports 100Mbit/s Cat 3 LTE. Most of the silicon solutions
designed for both user devices and LTE base stations support 100Mbit/s Cat 3 LTE. A small
number of older devices are limited to 50MHz Cat 2 LTE, and a few of the latest devices will
support 150MHz Cat 4.

The first LTE-Advanced features are becoming available in si licon. The first silicon devices
with features such as carrier aggregation and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) to support LTE-
Advanced are sampling to system developers.


6
Vendor consolidation is driving a very competitive handset sil icon market. Due to some
high-profile acquisitions, ST-Ericsson, Renasas, Intel and Nvidia all now have both application
processors and LTE baseband solutions under one roof.

ARM A9 application processors are used by most vendors; the first A15 cores will arrive
by the end of 2011. ARM Cortex A9 processor cores are used by Nvidia, Renesas, ST-Ericsson
and Texas Instruments. Intel has the Atom processor core, and Qualcomm has developed the
Scorpion and Krait processor cores.

Multimode handsets supporting 2G/3G/LTE will be the next wave, starting i n 2012. All LTE-
enabled handsets today are dual-band designs supporting LTE and 3G. Using the silicon devices
already developed, the next generation of handsets will be multiband, supporting 2G/3G and
possibly multiple LTE bands.

Integrated silicon solutions are available for small-cell base stations. Small-cell base stations
must be very low-cost and low-power. The latest introductions from several vendors include highly
integrated devices for picocells and femtocells that enable very low-power and low-cost solutions.
1.2 Report Scope & Structure
This report is based on interviews conducted with a wide range of LTE silicon vendors in the four
months leading up to J uly 2011, along with product and volume information supplied by vendors.
The tables presented in the report are based on product documentation and supplemental data
from our interviews and email conversations. All of the data in product tables has been provided
to vendors for confirmation, feedback and updating ahead of publication. In total, the report
contains detailed information and analysis on more than 70 products from 29 different vendors.

LTE Baseband, RF & Application Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Anal ysis is
structured as follows:

Section II examines the dynamics of the LTE market, provides an overview of LTE technology,
introduces the plans for LTE-Advanced and covers three vendors that will provide intellectual
property to support the development of LTE devices.

Section III focuses on base station solutions. This section covers 22 devices, including LTE PHY
devices, LTE MAC and control devices and integrated LTE base station devices.

Section IV presents detailed product and strategy analysis for 10 vendors that provide LTE PHY
devices, LTE MAC and control devices and/or integrated LTE base station devices.

Section V analyzes 31 baseband devices and application processors for LTE user devices,
including handsets, tablets and USB dongles.

Section VI presents detailed product and strategy analysis for 13 vendors that supply baseband
devices and application processors for LTE user devices.

Section VII analyzes 18 RF devices available for LTE and presents detailed product and strategy
analysis for six vendors that provide RF devices and are not covered elsewhere.

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II. LTE Markets & Technology
2.1 Market Overview
The dramatic increase in the use of smartphones by both businesses and consumers has
dramatically increased user expectations and driven exponential mobile data traffic growth. To
meet these expectations, carriers are investing in mobile broadband service delivery. However,
average revenue per mobile user is growing more slowly than data per user, and this is putting
carrier profitability under pressure. LTE is a significant step forward for wireless carriers, reducing
the cost per user and delivering peak rates of 100 Mbit/s and above.

LTE was developed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as a 4G successor to
WCDMA/UMTS. WCDMA/UMTS, including High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and CDMA2000,
represent the mainstream 3G mobile technologies supporting voice and increasing data band-
width. Since Qualcomm stopped developing Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) in November 2008,
LTE has also been adopted as the successor to CDMA2000. LTE will meet the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) requirements for 4G networks (IMT-Advanced) with the introduc-
tion of LTE-Advanced, currently being developed within 3GPP.

LTE uses similar techniques to WiMax, which has been in development for eight years. This has
accelerated the introduction of LTE equipment and handsets. LTE is architecturally backward
compatible with conventional mobile solutions, and although we are seeing some WiMax deploy-
ments, most wireless carriers are committing to LTE for their long-term mobile network evolution.
Beyond that, LTE-Advanced promises data rates up to 3 Gbit/s, and we expect LTE/LTE-
Advanced to be the leading 4G wireless technology. Ericsson has demonstrating LTE-Advanced,
achieving speeds 10 times faster than current LTE systems.

Carriers' commitment to LTE continues to grow. According to a recent report from the Global
mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), there are now 166 operators across 62 countries committed
to LTE. LTE is now the world's fastest-growing mobile networking technology, as a total of 24
operators have commercially launched LTE networks in 16 countries, according to the GSA. After
early enthusiasm in Asia and Europe, the U.S. is now taking the lead on LTE, with In-Stat
forecasting that 25 percent of all LTE base stations deployed from 2011-2014 will be in the U.S.

Figure 2.1: Worldwide LTE Subscribers

Source: AT&T

8
As Figure 2.1 shows, LTE subscriber numbers are expected to grow rapidly from 2013 onward.
The LTE infrastructure market is expected to reach $11.4 billion by 2014 (Infonetics Research,
April 2010). Analysts expect 136 million LTE subscribers (Pyramid Research, May 2009) paying
$70 billion in service revenue (J uniper Research) an average of $42 per subscriber per month.

LTE will be available on more frequency bands than any previous wireless service. LTE will be
available with frequency-division duplexing (FDD), where transmit and receive are on different
bands; and time-division duplexing (TDD), where transmit and receive share the same frequency,
but are separated in time. LTE also supports half-duplex FDD (HFDD), where the transmissions
to and from a specific terminal are on different bands and separated by time.

Key FDD LTE bands will initially be 700MHz in the U.S. and 2.6GHz in Europe. Some capacity
will be available in the 900MHz band as traffic is shifted from GSM, and in the 800MHz band as
digital spectrum is released by the shift from analog to digital TV. Other FDD LTE bands available
include 850MHz and 950MHz. China Mobile is planning to use the 2.3GHz TDD LTE band, and
2.6GHz may be used as some spectrum originally allocated to WiMax becomes available. LTE-
Advanced will support additional bands.

The first fully commercial LTE network was launched by TeliaSonera in Sweden in December
2009. Today TeliaSonera provides coverage for more than 30 cities in Sweden, Norway and
Denmark, delivering data rates up to 100 Mbit/s. Other operators deploying commercial mobile
broadband networks based on LTE include MetroPCS, Verizon and AT&T in North America,
Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom in Europe, and NTT Docomo in J apan. A number of WiMax
operators are also moving toward LTE. These include Yota in Russia and Clearwire in North
America, which is investigating the introduction of an LTE-Advanced network.

Initial networks are using single-band USB dongles for subscriber terminals and dual-mode LTE
handsets. Multiband LTE dongles and multimode handsets are in development covering GSM,
WCDMA/UMTS and LTE. General availability of multiprotocol handsets will be from 2012.
According to a recent report from the GSA, 45 manufacturers had announced 161 LTE-enabled
user devices by J uly 2011 a 64 percent increase since March 2011.
2.2 LTE Technology Primer
Key objectives for LTE are higher performance, with 100 Mbit/s peak downlink and 50 Mbit/s
uplink initially (Cat 3), and at least 1 Gbit/s downstream for LTE-Advanced. Faster cell edge
performance, reduced latency and scalable channel bandwidths of 20 MHz or more will deliver
much higher performance and better user experience. LTE is backward compatible and supports
handover and roaming to existing mobile networks including 3G and 2G (GSM/EDGE).

LTE provides two to five times greater spectral efficiency than existing advanced 3G networks.
With simple network architecture, the reuse of existing cell sites and multivendor sourcing, LTE
will deliver significantly lower cost per bit. LTE has a very wide application with support for both
TDD and FDD spectrum modes, mobility up to 350 km per hour and connectivity for a large range
modem devices, including phones, PCs and cameras.

The LTE downlink transmission scheme is based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM), like WiMax. Carrier bandwidths are flexible. The LTE uplink is a single carrier transmis-
sion based on discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread OFDM (DFTS-OFDM). This is the most
significant difference between implementing mobile WiMax and LTE with a programmable
baseband solution.

3GPP Release 8, frozen in December 2008, specified all the key parameters for LTE. The user
equipment categories for 3GPP Release 8 are shown in Figure 2.2. 3GPP Release 9, completed
at the end of 2009, adds enhancements to LTE particularly for home base stations (femtocells).

9
Figure 2.2: 3GPP Release 8 User Equipment Categories
CATEGORY 1 2 3 4 5
Peak Downlink
Speed
10 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 100 Mbit/s 150 Mbit/s 300 Mbit/s
Peak Uplink
Speed
5 Mbit/s 25 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 75 Mbit/s
RF Bandwidth 20 MHz
Downlink
Modulation
QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM
Uplink
Modulation
QPSK, 16QAM
QPSK, 16QAM,
64QAM
2 Rx Diversity Assumed in performance requirements
2x2 MIMO Not supported Mandatory
4x4 MIMO Not supported Mandatory
Source: 3GPP

Maximum network capacity is determined by the channel bandwidth and coding. The channel
bandwidth can be 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz and is fixed for a particular network. The coding
can be QPSK, 16QAM, or 64QAM and may switch dynamically depending on link performance,
with 64QAM providing the highest performance.

LTE link performance is significantly enhanced with the use of multiple-input/multiple output
(MIMO) antennas. The base implementation for LTE is a 1x2 MIMO configuration, with a single
transmitter and two receivers. The two receiver streams are combined, reducing the requirement
for error correction and retransmission. Additional transmit antennas are used for transmit
diversity and beam-forming. 2x2 MIMO configurations have two receivers and two transmitters.
Initial LTE implementations specifying Cat 3 equipment with 2x2 MIMO will reach 100 Mbit/s for
the downlink and 50 Mbit/s for the uplink under ideal conditions.

The LTE base station, called the eNodeB, integrates the function of both the 3G base station
(NodeB) and the 3G distributed radio network controller (RNC). The eNodeB radio interface
architecture shown in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3: LTE Radio Interface Architecture

Source: Earlswood Marketing

10
The LTE radio interface architecture consists of five main layers. The Radio Resource Control
(RRC) handles admission control and hand over. The Packet and Data Convergence Protocol
(PDCP) handles header compression, ciphering and integrity protection. The Radio Link Control
(RLC) handles segmentation and retransmission, as well as in-sequence delivery. The Media
Access Control (MAC) handles link scheduling and hybrid acknowledge request, and the Physical
Layer (PHY) handles the coding, APM modulation and multi-antenna mapping.

LTE is the first wireless network technology that does not include circuit-switched voice. Current
LTE network deployments use legacy fallback to a circuit-switched 2G/3G connection to support
voice calls. This approach interrupts the LTE data session to make or receive voice calls, and call
setup times can be as much as six seconds. Voice can also be supported using voice over IP
(VoIP) with Skype, or a similar Internet VoIP service. Neither of these approaches is viewed by
carriers as a long-term solution, as one requires the circuit-switched infrastructure to remain and
the other gives control of voice to a third-party provider.

The GSM Association (GSMA) has adopted Voice over LTE (VoLTE) as the standardized method
for delivering voice services over LTE. VoLTE requires carriers to implement IP Multimedia
Subsystem (IMS) infrastructure. IMS has already been deployed by some mobile carriers;
however, the benefits of IMS including the GSMA-defined Rich Communications Suite (RCS)
services have not been enough to persuade most carriers to deploy it. The combination of LTE,
VoLTE and IMS is expected to prove attractive to most carriers over time. Other solutions for
delivering voice services over LTE without using IMS, such as the VoLGA (VoLTE via Generic
Access) initiative, are no longer seeing much interest.

To meet the requirement for lower capex and opex and to support the high bandwidth require-
ments for LTE, 3GPP has developed a new network architecture, System Architecture Evolution
(SAE), shown in Figure 2.4. The SAE consists of the radio access network (RAN) and Evolved
Packet Core (EPC). The EPC will connect with an IMS network or directly to the Internet. The
Mobility Management Entity (MME) is the control plane node for the EPC. The EPC user plane
consists of the serving gateway connecting the EPC to the LTE RAN and the packet data network
gateway connecting the EPC to the Internet using the SGI interface. User data is stored in the
Home Subscriber Server (HSS), which may be shared with the IMS network.

Figure 2.4: System Architecture Evolution (SAE)

The EPC can also support a combined 3G/LTE network with interfaces to the SGSN and RNC for
the HSPA network (see Figure 2.5). A combined HLR/HSS is used by the EPC for both LTE and
the GSM/WCDMA network.


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Figure 2.5: 3G/LTE System Architecture
2.3 LTE-Advanced
LTE-Advanced, which will deliver up to 3 Gbit/s, is nearing completion. The features of LTE-
Advanced include:

Carrier aggregation: The use of multiple carrier bands, either contiguous or non-
contiguous, giving carrier bandwidths up to 100MHz.
Improved spectral efficiency
Higher-order MIMO: Extended utilization of antennas, including multi-user MIMO (MU-
MIMO) up to 8x8 downlink and 4x4 uplink
Multi-hop transmission (relay)
Inter-cell interference management, multi-cell cooperation and self-organizing network
(SON)
New user equipment categories as shown below:
o Cat 6 300 Mbit/s downlink, 50 Mbit/s uplink
o Cat 7 300 Mbit/s downlink, 100 Mbit/s uplink
o Cat 8 3 Gbit/s downlink, 1.5 Gbit/s uplink

Basic LTE-Advanced functionality is covered by 3GPP Release 10, which was mostly frozen in
J une 2011. Further enhancements, including multi-cell cooperation (CoMP), are covered by
Release 11, which is expected to be frozen by the end of 2011. In November 2010, LTE-
Advanced was ratified as an IMT-Advanced technology by the ITU.
2.4 LTE IP Solutions
LTE intellectual property (IP) has been important in the development of semiconductor devices.
Much of this IP was initially developed for WiMax and has been adapted to LTE.

12
There are several companies that provide LTE IP, including:

Al tera Corp.: Altera is a leading FPGA vendor. The company has developed IP blocks
for a range of WiMax- and LTE-related functions, including Turbo encoder/decoder and a
scalable OFDMA engine.
Tensilica Inc.: Tensilica is a semiconductor IP company that provides customizable data
plane processors. In February 2010, the company released details of the Atlas LTE ref-
erence architecture using Tensilica processor cores that will support Cat 4 LTE handsets.
The company claims that eight of the top 15 LTE chipset manufacturers are working with
its digital signal processing (DSP) core for their LTE designs. Tensilica processor cores
are also used by DesignArt for its base station devices (see Section 4.2).
Xilinx Inc.: Xilinx, the leading FPGA vendor, provides IP and reference design for net-
working applications. The company has developed IP blocks for a range of LTE-related
functions, including MIMO encoder/decoder, downlink channel encoder and uplink channel
decoder. Xilinx FPGAs are used in a growing number of LTE base station implementations.

13
III. Base Station Devices & Solutions
3.1 LTE Base Station PHY Devices
LTE networks are being built using a heterogeneous mix of small and large base stations
(eNodeBs), as shown in Fi gure 3.1. The first LTE networks are using micro base stations that
support up to 600 users. Macro base stations with more than 1,000 users will be needed for some
high-density, urban locations, but micro base stations will be the most common. A recent devel-
opment is the picocell, supporting up to 128 users, and femtocells for fewer than 32 users. Pico
base stations can be located indoors or outdoors on a light pole to provide a local hotspot.
Enterprise femtocells and home femtocells provide local connectivity within buildings.

Figure 3.1: LTE Base Stations
BASE STATION TYPE LOCATION COVERAGE USERS
Home Femto Home Home 4-8
Enterprise Femto Enterprise Office buildings 8-32
Pico Indoor Hotspot 32-128
Pico Street (Light Pole) Immediate area 32-128
Micro Street, cabinet or light pole Suburban or Rural Area (40km) 400-600
Macro Street cabinet or central office High-Density Urban Areas >1,000
Source: Heavy Reading

LTE components must be very flexible, handling multiple standards, frequency bands and
channel bandwidths. Baseband devices should therefore be software-programmable, handling
involved specifications and channel allocations, as well as scalable and very low-latency.

Figure 3.2 shows the devices in a typical eNodeB. On the left is the network interface; in the
middle is the baseband, including MAC and PHY devices; and on the right is the RF front end.

Figure 3.2: eNodeB

The RF front end has integrated power amplifiers, filtering and control for transmit and receive. To
support 2x2 MIMO, the RF front end should integrate at least two transmit and receive and signal
paths. The RF front end may have an analog interface to the baseband device or integrate the

14
digital to analog converters (analog front end [AFE]) and have a digital interface to the baseband
device. The baseband consists of an OFDM-based PHY and MAC function. The network inter-
face handles networking functions including address translation, packet processing, traffic
management and interfaces to the backhaul network. The control processor provides system,
network management, and handles exception and control plane functions.

Many LTE base stations also support 2G and 3G legacy networks, including GSM, CDMA and
HSPA+. This multimode requirement significantly increases the work required to qualify new
systems and gives existing 2G and 3G wireless baseband component suppliers a significant
advantage.

Larger LTE base stations (macro, micro) use separate devices for PHY, MAC and RF front end.
Smaller pico base stations can be implemented using integrated devices with DSP, packet
processing, network input/output (I/O) and control processor. Future devices may also integrate
the RF front end.

The rest of this section is split into three subsections covering LTE base station PHY devices,
LTE base station MAC devices and integrated devices for LTE base stations.
3.2 LTE Base Station PHY Devices
Figures 3.3 is a summary of the leading PHY devices for LTE. These include devices from
DesignArt and Picochip that have been developed for this application, along with general-purpose
devices from Freescale and Texas Instruments that have been enhanced to support 4G wireless
networks including LTE. Throughput ranges from 100 Mbit/s downstream and 50 Mbit/s upstream
(LTE Cat 3) to 300 Mbit/s downstream and 150 Mbit/s upstream (LTE-Advanced Cat 7). The
DesignArt DAN3100 and Texas Instruments TCI6618 will also support the 40MHz channel
bandwidth required for LTE-Advanced.

Figure 3.3: LTE PHY Devi ce Summary
COMPANY/
DEVICE
THROUGH-
PUT
(DOWN/UP)
CHANNEL
BANDWIDTHS
NETWORKS PROCESS POWER
AVAIL-
ABILITY
DesignArt
DAN3100
N/A
3.5, 5, 7, 10,
20, 40MHz
GSM, [W]CDMA, WiMax,
LTE, LTE-Advanced
40nm 5W max Sampling
Freescale
MSC8156/4
N/D N/D LTE, HSPA+and WiMax 45nm N/D Production
Freescale
MSC8157
N/D N/D
LTE, HSPA+, LTE-
Advanced and WiMax
45nm N/D Sampling
Picochip
PC203
100 Mbit/s/
50 Mbit/s
Up to 10MHz
HSDPA, HSUPA,
CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA,
WiFi, GSM, GPRS,
EDGE, LTE, EGPRS
90nm N/D Production
Picochip
PC500
150 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
HSPA/LTE/ LTE-
Advanced
90nm N/D Sampling
Texas
Instruments
TCI6616
150 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
LTE, WCDMA/HSPA+,
GSM/EDGE, TD-SCDMA,
WiMax, CDMA2000
40nm N/D Production
Texas
Instruments
TCI6618
300 Mbit/s/
150 Mbit/s
Up to 40MHz
LTE, WCDMA/HSPA+,
GSM/EDGE, TD-SCDMA,
WiMax, CDMA2000
40nm N/D Production

15
Typical power consumption is 7.5W to 10W for a three-sector implementation. These programm-
able devices can also be used to support WiMax, WCDMA, CDMA2000, GPRS, EDGE and WiFi,
as well as LTE. The DesignArt DAN3100 is designed for use on a remote radio head and maxi-
mum power is 5W. Most devices use 40nm or 45nm semiconductor technology. The Picochip
devices use 90nm.

Figure 3.4 shows more detail on LTE PHY devices. All these devices implement the LTE PHY in
programmable DSP cores. The Freescale and Texas Instruments devices are enhanced versions
of general-purpose DSP processors. Picochip use an array of processors optimized for DSP
processing (picoArray), and DesignArt has licensed reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
and DSP cores from Tensilica.

Most devices will support 2x2 MIMO and both TDD and FDD. The Texas Instruments TCI6618
will support 4x4 MIMO. All the devices integrate a security acceleration engine and significant
internal memory. The network interfaces to the MAC are typically Gigabit Ethernet (GE), and host
interfaces are PCI Express (PCIe), Serial RapidIO (SRIO) or GE. All the devices provide a digital
interface to the RF front end. The most common interface is Common Public Radio Interface
(CPRI), but other interfaces are supported, including FRMI, Open Base Station Architecture
Initiative (OBSAI) and SRIO.

Figure 3.4: LTE PHY Devi ce Features
COMPANY/
DEVICE
PHY MIMO
SEC-
TORS
NETWORK
& HOST
INTERFACE
RF
INTER-
FACE
INTER-
NAL
MEMORY
DesignArt
DAN3100
6 x Tensilica RISC cores,
6 x Tensilica DSP cores
N/A 16
2 x GE;
2 x SRIO
4 x DFE;
8 x PRI;
2 x SRIO
3.5 MB
Freescale
MSC8156/4
6 x SC3850 StarCore DSP,
MAPLE-B accelerator
N/D N/D
2 x GE, PCIe
x4, 2xSRIOx4
None 4MB
Freescale
MSC8157
6 x SC3850 StarCore DSP,
MAPLE-B2 accelerator
N/D N/D
2 x GE,
PCIe2.1 x4,
2xSRIOx4@5G
6x CPRI
4.1@6G
6MB
Picochip
PC203
picoArray
2x2 (extenda-
ble to more)
Scal-
able
FE and MII or
local bus
3xADI,
FRMI
N/D
Picochip
PC500
picoArray
2x2 (extenda-
ble to more)
Scal-
able
FE and MII or
local bus
3xADI,
FRMI
N/D
Texas
Instruments
TCI6616
4xC66x DSP cores
plus coprocessors
2x2/1x2
(FDD); 2x8/
8x2 (TDD)
1 SRIO, 2xGE
CPRI/
OBSAI
6MB
Texas
Instruments
TCI6618
4xC66x DSP cores
plus coprocessors
4x4/2x2
(FDD); 2x8/
8x2 (TDD)
2 SRIO, 2xGE
CPRI/
OBSAI
6MB
One or more C66x DSP cores may be shared between PHY and MAC
3.3 LTE Base Station MAC & Control Devices
This section covers devices that can be used as LTE base station MAC and control devices. They
all integrate a control processor with hardware acceleration for networking functions. These
devices can be used to implement the network interface including service applications and
operations, administration and maintenance (OAM), control processing and system management,
and the LTE MAC layer.

16
Figure 3.5 shows a number of devices that are suitable for LTE base station MAC and control
functions. All of the companies in this table supply a range of multicore processors that include
devices with both higher and lower performance and integration than those shown in this table.
For more information on multicore devices, see the vendor-specific information in Section IV, or
the report Multicore Processors for Network Systems: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis.

All these devices support a wide range of network and host interfaces, including GE, SRIO and
PCIe. The hardware acceleration is implemented in either hardcoded blocks or programmable
engines, such as the PMC-Sierra SMT engines. The processor core count ranges from two e500v
cores in the Freescale QorIQ P2020 to 10 cnMIPS64 v2 cores in the Cavium Octeon II CN6645.
The Cavium CN6645 and NetLogic XLP316L devices support IEEE 1588v2 hardware time
stamping for Ethernet backhaul timing.

Figure 3.5: LTE MAC & Control Devices
COMPANY/
DEVICE
CONTROL & MAC
ETHERNET
INTERFACE
OTHER HOST/
NETWORK
INTERFACE
INTER-
NAL
MEMORY
PRO-
CESS
POWER
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Cavium
Octeon II
CN6645
10x cnMIPS64 v2
cores
2x10GE or
8xGE
2x(PCIex4
or SRIOx4
2MB 65nm 7W
Produc-
tion
Freescale
QorIQ P2020
2x e500v2 cores 3xGE 3xPCIe 512KB 45nm 8W max
Produc-
tion
LSI ACP3442
4x PowerPC 476
cores
8xGE
SRIOx4,
3xPCIex4
4MB 45nm N/D
Produc-
tion
NetLogic
XLP316L
4x MIPS64 cores
2x10GE,
8x2.5GE,
16xGE,
72xFE
PCIe x1,
2xSRIOx4.
16xTDM,
Utopia/SPI-3
6MB 40nm
4.5-
9.5W
Produc-
tion
PMC-Sierra
WinPath3
2 x MIPS34KC
650MHz cores, 12
proprietary SMT
engines @ 450MHz
2x10GE,
8x2.5GE,
16xGE,
72xFE,
PCIe x1,
2xSRIOx4,
16xTDM,
Utopia/SPI-3
2MB 65nm
4.5-
9.5W
Produc-
tion
Supports IEEE 1588v2 hardware time stamping for Ethernet backhaul timing synchronization
3.4 Integrated LTE Base Station Devices
Seven vendors have released details of integrated LTE base station devices, ideal for femtocells
and the growing picocell market. These are summarized in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.6: Integrated LTE Base Stations Device Summary
COMPANY/
DEVICE
THROUGH-
PUT
(DOWN/UP)
CHANNEL
BANDWIDTHS
NETWORKS MIMO
PRO-
CESS
POW-
ER
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7280
300Mbit/s
Down,
300Mbit/s
up
Up to 2x20MHz
LTE, LTE Adv.,
WCDMA
Not
dis-
closed
28
nm
7W
max
Late
2012
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7130
150Mbit/s
Down,
150Mbit/s
up
Up to 20MHz LTE, WCDMA
Not
dis-
closed
40nm
10W
max
Dec
'11/J an
'12

17
COMPANY/
DEVICE
THROUGH-
PUT
(DOWN/UP)
CHANNEL
BANDWIDTHS
NETWORKS MIMO
PRO-
CESS
POW-
ER
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7120
100Mbit/s
Down,
75Mbit/s
up
Up to 20MHz LTE, WCDMA
Not
dis-
closed
40nm
6W
max
Dec
'11/J an
'12
DesignArt
DAN3300
300 Mbit/s
total
3.5, 5, 7, 10,
20MHz
GSM, [W]CDMA,
WiMax, LTE,
LTE-Advanced
MU-
MIMO
40nm
5W
max
Sam-
pling
DesignArt
DAN3400
600 Mbit/s
total
5, 7, 10, 14, 20,
28, 40, 56, 80,
125, 250,
500MHz
GSM, [W]CDMA,
WiMax, LTE,
LTE-Advanced
MU-
MIMO
40nm
8W
max
Sam-
pling
DesignArt
DAN3800
1.25 Gbit/s
total
All
[W]CDMA, WiMax,
LTE, LTE-Advanced
MU-
MIMO,
CoMP
40nm
8W
max
Sam-
pling
Freescale
QorIQ
Converge
PSC9130/31
100 Mbit/s/
50 Mbit/s
N/D
LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD,
HSPA+
2x2 45nm N/D 3Q11
Freescale
QorIQ
Converge
PSC9132
150 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
N/D
LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD,
HSPA+
2x4 45nm N/D 3Q11
Mindspeed
Transcede
3000
N/D
5, 7, 10, 14, 20,
28, 40, 56, 80,
125, 250, 500
HSPA+, LTE-
Advanced and
WiMax
2x2 40nm 8W typ
August
2011
Mindspeed
M84xxx
Transcede
4000/4020
N/D
Up to 10MHz
(600MHz
Transcede
4000); up to
20MHz (750MHz
Transcede 4020)
WCDMA, LTE-FDD,
LTE-TDD, TD-
SCDMA
and WiMax
2x2 40nm
15W
max
(12W
max
Tran-
scede
4000)
August
2011
Octasic
OCT2224W
300 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
GSM, EDGE,
eEDGE, CDMA
CDMA1x, EVDO,
UMTS, HSPA,
WiMax and LTE
2x2 (4x4
with two
devices)
90nm 3W 3Q11
Picochip
PC5x2
150 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
HSPA/LTE/ LTE-
Advanced
2x2
(extend-
able to
more)
N/D N/D N/D
Texas
Instruments
TCI6612
150 Mbit/s/
75 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
LTE, WCDMA/
HSPA+, GSM/
EDGE, WiMax, TD-
SCDMA, CDMA2000
2x2/1x2
(FDD);
2x2/2x2
(TDD)
40nm N/D 4Q11
Texas
Instruments
TCI6614
300 Mbit/s/
150 Mbit/s
Up to 20MHz
LTE, WCDMA/
HSPA+, GSM/
EDGE, WiMax, TD-
SCDMA, CDMA2000
4x4/2x2
(FDD);
2x8/8x2
(TDD)
40nm N/D 3Q11

18
All these programmable devices will support 2x2 MIMO and TDD/FDD. The Texas Instruments
TCI6614 will support 4x4 MIMO, and several other devices will support 4x4 MIMO with multiple
devices. DesignArt claims support for MU-MIMO. All the devices will support multimode base
stations with a mix of WCDMA, CDMA2000, GPRS, EDGE and WiMax. The Cavium OCTEON
Fusion CNF7280, due to sample in late 2012, is the first integrated device to be announced with
support the 40MHz channel bandwidth required for LTE-Advanced. Typical power consumption
for a three-sector implementation is 5W to 15W. Octasic claims the lowest power consumption, at
3W.

Figure 3.7 shows additional information on the integrated LTE devices. All these devices have a
mix of RISC cores, DSP cores and either hardware acceleration or network processor cores
(NPU) for networking functions. The DesignArt devices are configured to support pico, micro or
larger base stations with 1, 4 or 16 sectors. The other devices are designed to support femto,
pico or micro base stations. The Cavium OCTEON Fusion and Freescale QorIQ Converge
devices support IEEE1588v2 clock synchronization for Ethernet-based backhaul.

Figure 3.7: Integrated LTE Device Features
COMPANY/
DEVICE
CONTROL &
MAC
PHY SECTORS
NETWORK
& HOST
INTERFACE
RF
INTER-
FACE
INTERNAL
MEMORY
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7280
Six
cnMIPS64 v2
cores @
2GHz
8x DSP cores @ 1GHz
with hardware
accelerators
2
4xGE with
1588v2,
optional
OFDM
Backhaul
J ESD
207P/
CPRI
Not
disclosed
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7130
Four
cnMIPS64 v2
cores @
1.5GHz
6x DSP cores @
500MHz with hardware
accelerators
2 (with off-
chip PHY)
2xGE with
1588v2
J ESD
207P/
CPRI
Not
disclosed
Cavium
OCTEON
Fusion
CNF7120
Two
cnMIPS64 v2
cores @
1GHz
4x DSP cores @
500MHz w/ hardware
accelerators
1
2xGE with
1588v2
J ESD
207P/
CPRI
Not
disclosed
DesignArt
DAN3300
4 x ARM926;
6 x Tensilica
NPU cores
6x Tensilica RISC
cores; 6 x Tensilica
DSP cores
1 2 x GE 4 x PRI
3.5
Mbytes
DesignArt
DAN3400
4 x ARM926;
6 x Tensilica
NPU cores
6x Tensilica RISC
DSP cores
4
2 x GE,
SRIOx4
4 x DFE;
8 x PRI; 3
x SRIOx4
3.5
Mbytes
DesignArt
DAN3800
4 x ARM926;
6 x Tensilica
NPU cores
6x Tensilica RISC
DSP cores
16 2 x GE
4 x
SRIOx4
3.5
Mbytes
Freescale
QorIQ
Converge
PSC9130/31
e500v2 RISC
core
SC3850 StarCore
DSP, MAPLE-B2F
accelerator
1
2xGE with
IEEE1588v2
3x
J ESD207
0.75
Mbytes
Freescale
QorIQ
Converge
PSC9132
2x e500v2
RISC cores
2x SC3850 StarCore
DSP, MAPLE-B2P
accelerator
1
2xGE with
IEEE1588v2,
PCIe 5Gx2
4x
J ESD207,
2x CPRI
v4.1 @
6G
1.5
Mbytes

19
COMPANY/
DEVICE
CONTROL &
MAC
PHY SECTORS
NETWORK
& HOST
INTERFACE
RF
INTER-
FACE
INTERNAL
MEMORY
Mindspeed
Transcede
3000
ARM Cortex-
A9 Quad
MPCore,
Security
Engine
5 Ceva DSP cores,
5 Mindspeed applica-
tion processors,
FEC engine
Up to 3
2xGE,
4xTDM, 2x
SRIOx4,
PCIe x4
4x CPRI
4.1
7Mbytes
Mindspeed
M84xxx
Transcede
4000/4020
ARM Cortex-
A9 Quad
MPCore,
Security
Engine
10 Ceva DSP cores +
ARM Cortex-A9 Dual
MPCore,10 Mindspeed
application processors,
FEC engine
Up to 3
2xGE, 2x
SRIOx4,
PCIe x4
6x CPRI
4.1
7Mbytes
Octasic
OCT2224W
ARM11
500MHz
24 Opus2 DSP cores Up to 3
4xGE, PCIe
x1, SRIOx4
3x
J ESD207
3.5Mbytes
Picochip
PC5x2
N/D picoArray Scalable FE FRMI None
Texas
Instruments
TCI6612
Cortex A8
2xC66x DSP cores
plus coprocessors
1 SRIO, 2xGE
OBSAI,
CPRI, SPI
4.25MB
Texas
Instruments
TCI6614
Cortex A8
4xC66x DSP cores
plus coprocessors
1 SRIO, 2xGE
OBSAI,
CPRI, SPI
6.25MB
One or more C66x DSP cores may be shared between PHY and MAC

20
IV. Base Station Silicon Vendors
This section covers the leading base station silicon vendors. Figure 4.1 shows which type of
device is shipping or in development from each of the leading vendors.

Figure 4.1: Base Station Silicon Vendors
COMPANY
MAC/
CONTROL
PHY
INTEGRATED MAC/
CONTROL/PHY
RF
Analog
Devices

Cavium
DesignArt
Freescale
Genasic
Lime
Microsystems

LSI
Mindspeed
NetLogic
Octasic
Picochip
PMC-Sierra
Semtech
Texas
Instruments

4.1 Cavium Inc.
Cavium is one of the leading suppliers of security, network services and content processing
semiconductor devices. It has a successful line of multicore processors, security processors,
ARM-based communications processors and video and content processors that address 10
Mbit/s to 40 Gbit/s performance for wired and wireless network equipment. In J anuary 2011, the
company acquired WiMax and LTE baseband vendor Wavesat. The Wavesat devices are
covered in Section 6.3.

Cavium has developed three generations of Octeon processor, and all three generations are
software-compatible. The Octeon Plus, introduced in 2006, has an enhanced MIPS64 core with a
larger data cache and additional packet processing and quality-of-service accelerators. Octeon II,
announced in March 2009, has a further enhanced core, larger data and instruction caches, and
additional hardware acceleration engines. The Octeon II devices have 2 to 32 cnMIPS64 v2 cores
running up to 1.5GHz.

The Cavium CN6645 covered in this report is one of the latest Octeon II devices (see Figure 4.2).
The device is configured for 3G/4G/LTE wireless base stations and integrates 10 cnMIPS64 v2
cores. The device has hardware acceleration for packet processing and security. Other devices in
the CN66xx series have two or four cnMIPS64v2 cores.

21
Figure 4.2: Octeon II CN66XX Block Diagram

Source: Cavium

In October 2011 Cavium announced the first of a new family of devices specifically designed for
the LTE/3G base station market. The Cavium OCTEON Fusion devices integrate the MIPS64r4
cores from OCTEON II and a new wireless baseband PHY architecture based on multiple DSP
cores and software developed with expertise from baseband vendor Wavesat, which was
acquired by Cavium in J anuary 2011.

The company has released details on three OCTEON Fusion devices. The 40nm Cavium
OCTEON Fusion CNF7120/30 devices support LTE Release 9 and 3G and will be sampling
December 2011 or J anuary 2012. The 28nm Cavium OCTEON Fusion CNF7280 device will add
support for LTE Advanced and will be available late in 2012. All the devices can be programmed
to support the full functionality for LTE/3G wireless base stations including digital front end and
Ethernet backhaul.
4.2 DesignArt Networks Ltd.
DesignArt is an Israeli fabless semiconductor company with about 70 employees. The company
has developed several system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for WiMax and LTE network infrastruc-
ture and point-to-point backhaul.

22
DesignArt's core product is the DAN3xxx family developed for LTE and backhaul applications.
The DAN3000 architecture is a second-generation solution based on the DAN240 developed for
WiMax and in production since 2008.

The DAN3000 family uses a three-issue VLIW Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) DSP
architecture is based on technology licensed from Tensilica. Some of the devices also integrate
two ARM926 cores for control and LTE MAC. The first devices started sampling toward the end of
2010 and production is planned for the third quarter of 2011.

A full list of DAN3000 devices is shown in Figure 4.3. The devices are pin-compatible and based
on the same design.

Figure 4.3: DesignArt DAN3000 Famil y
DEVICE APPLICATION
THROUGH-
PUT
SECTORS
INTERNAL
MEMORY
EXTERNAL
MEMORY
PROCESSOR
DesignArt
DAN3100
Remote
radio head
N/A 16 3.5 Mbytes None
2 x ARM,12 x
Tensilica cores
DesignArt
DAN3200
Unified backhaul 1.25 Gbit/s
Up to 4
PTP Links
3.5 Mbytes 2xDDR3
4 x ARM,18 x
Tensilica cores
DesignArt
DAN3300
Single-mode
picocells
300 Mbit/s
total
1 3.5 Mbytes 2xDDR3
4 x ARM,18 x
Tensilica cores
DesignArt
DAN3400
Multi-mode, multi-
carrier pico- and
micro BTS
600 Mbit/s
total
4 3.5 Mbytes 3.5 Mbytes
4 x ARM,18 x
Tensilica cores
DesignArt
DAN3800
High-capacity
baseband pooling
1.25 Gbit/s
total
16 3.5 Mbytes 3.5 Mbytes
4 x ARM,18 x
Tensilica cores
4.3 Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
Freescale is a leading supplier of embedded processors for wireless, networking, automotive,
consumer and industrial applications. The company was formed out of Motorola's semiconductor
businesses and acquired by a consortium of private equity funds led by the Blackstone Group in
December 2006. The company has two processor architectures; the PowerPC-based RISC
architecture and the StarCore DSP architecture.

The Freescale QorIQ multicore platform was announced in 2008 and is built around a switch
fabric, multiple PowerPC e500mc cores and a shared Layer 3 cache. Multiple network connec-
tions are provided with PCIe, RapidIO, Ethernet and an embedded Quicc engine to handle low-
level network protocols. Many companies are using Freescale PowerQuicc processors for 2G, 3G
and now 4G base stations. The existing QorIQ multicore processor family includes devices with 2,
4, 6 or 8 32-bit cores. The next generation, announced in J une 2011 and due to start sampling in
the first quarter of 2012, will have up to 12 64-bit cores.

The MSC8156 DSP device was announced in November 2008. The device integrates six SC3850
StarCore DSP cores, a multi-accelerator platform engine (MAPLE-B) for Turbo and Viterbi
decoding and FFT/DFT acceleration, and a dual RISC core Quicc engine for I/O processing. The
MSC8157 DSP has an enhanced MAPLE-B2 hardware engine solution, and the company is
seeing strong design wins for LTE. A similar device is available for WCDMA and HSAP+3G
applications (MSC8158).

Freescale has released an Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC)-based reference design for LTE,
WiMax, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA pico base stations. The reference design includes a QorIQ

23
P2020 dual-core processor for packet processing and MSC8156 DSP for LTE PHY. For macro
base stations, multiple MSC8156 devices can be used with the larger P4080 8-core multicore
processor. The company has developed a full software suite for LTE, HSPA+and WiMax.

In February 2011 Freescale announced the QorIQ Qonverge devices that integrate both StarCore
DSP and QorIQ multicore RISC cores. The first products are the PSC9130/PSC9131 devices for
femtocells and PSC9132 for picocells. Freescale has been working closely with Alcatel-Lucent on
SoC solutions for base stations and Airvana has announced that its multi-mode femtocells will be
based on the new QorIQ Qonverge devices.

These first Qonverge multicore devices are built in 45nm process technology and planned for
availability in the third quarter of 2011. Freescale plans to introduce further QorIQ Qonverge
devices targeting larger cell (metro and macro) base stations built in 28nm process technology
later in 2011.
4.4 LSI Corp.
LSI provides silicon-based solutions for the storage and networking markets. The company's
solutions for networking include PHY devices, custom application-specific integrated circuits
(ASICs), content processors, DSPs, network processors and multicore communication proces-
sors. Most of the networking products were acquired when LSI bought Agere Systems.

Figure 4.4: LSI ACP34xx Axxia Multicore Processor

Source: LSI Logic

24
The LSI ACP3400 Axxia multicore processor (see Figure 4.4 above) was announced in Septem-
ber 2009. The architecture is built around a switch fabric and a message passing protocol that
implements a virtual pipeline. The initial devices started sampling in February 2010 and have 2 or
4 PowerPC 476 32-bit cores.

The LSI ACP3442 is recommended for 3G and 4G/LTE base stations and has 4 PowerPC 476
32-bit cores. LSI also has a range of DSP products that can be used in wireless base stations,
however none of these is currently recommended for LTE base station designs.
4.5 Mindspeed Technologies Inc.
Mindspeed provides networking devices for communications applications in enterprise, access,
metro, wide-area and wireless networks. The Transcede 4000 wireless broadband processors
are a development of the Comcerto VoIP processing devices. The Transcede 4000 devices
integrate up to 10 Ceva DSP cores, up to 10 Mindspeed application processing engines, a
security engine and two ARM Cortex A9 multicore processors. PHY processing is handled by a
dual-core ARM Cortex A9 multicore processor. MAC and packet processing is handled by a
quad-core ARM Cortex A9 multicore processor.

The Transcede 4000 family includes the Transcede 4000/4020 for 4G macro and larger pico base
stations and the Transcede 3000 for smaller base stations. All these devices will handle PHY,
MAC and packet processing for LTE. All the devices integrate GE, SRIO and CPRI interfaces.
Mindspeed will supply baseline LTE PHY code and Interphase has developed an AMC module
based on the Transcede 4000.
4.6 NetLogic Microsystems Inc.
NetLogic Microsystems is a leading supplier of networking silicon devices including multicore
processors, content processors, network search engines, embedded processors and high-speed
GE PHY devices. The company went public in 2004 and merged with RMI in J une 2009. In March
2011, NetLogic entered an agreement to acquire Optichron, which develops digital front end
(DFE) components for wireless base stations. In September 2011 Broadcom announced that it
would acquire NetLogic for approximately $3.7 billion.

Figure 4.5: NetLogic XLP Multicore Processor

Source: NetLogic

25
Figure 4.5 (above) shows the latest NetLogic multicore processor family. The 40nm XLP proces-
sor builds on the 90nm XLR architecture developed by RMI. The NetLogic multicore architecture
is built around a shared memory switch that connects up to 8 MIPS64 cores and distributed
interconnects to the 8MB Layer 3 cache, memory controllers and networking I/O. Each MIPS64
supports 4 separate hardware threads, giving the devices up to 32 virtual 16 NXCPU cores.

The NetLogic XLP316L processor has four MIPS64 cores, 8 GE interfaces or two XAUI 10GE
interfaces, and both SRIO and PCIe interfaces. The device is targeted at 3G and 4G/LTE
wireless base stations.
4.7 Octasic Inc.
Octasic provides media and wireless baseband processing silicon and software solutions. The
company's multi-core DSP solutions are based on a unique asynchronous DSP architecture.
Octasic is shipping DSP-based voice processing and media processing solutions. In J une 2010,
the company announced the OCT2224W multi-core DSP devices for femto, micro and pico base
station PHY and MAC.

Figure 4.6: Octasi c OCT2224W Block Di agram

Source: Octasic

26
The OCT2224W has 6x4 Opus2 DSP cores and a single ARM 11 core for control and MAC
processing. The device has very low power consumption at 3W and is expected to be available to
customers from the third quarter of 2011.
4.8 Picochip Ltd.
Picochip, founded in 2000, has developed a range of wireless base station PHY solutions based
on the PicoArray multicore DSP architecture. Its many WiMax design wins include Airspan, Intel,
Ericsson, Nortel and Redline Communications. The company coined the term "femtocell" and is a
key supplier of silicon for 3G femtocells having shipped more than one million chips. Picochip has
said it plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) sometime in 2011.

The PC203 base station PHY processor is optimized for multimode femtocells. It integrates 273
picoArray processors, security acceleration, Ethernet MAC and three analog interfaces. Picochip
provides firmware and reference designs for a range of applications including LTE, WiMax,
HSPA, WCDMA and TD-SCMA. A larger device (PC202) that integrates an ARM926 processor
core is also available. Both devices are in production. The company is shipping an eNodeB
development system based on the PC203.

The PC500, shown in Figure 4.7, is an optimized version of the PC203 in the same 90nm
technology. The PC500 will support dual-mode LTE/HSPA and channel bandwidths up to 20
MHz. The maximum throughput is 150 Mbit/s downstream and 75 Mbit/s upstream. The PC500 is
designed for femtocells, but larger systems can be built using multiple devices. The device is
currently sampling to customers.

Figure 4.7: Pi cochip PC500 Block Di agram

Source: Picochip

Picochip is working on a third-generation product family. The PC5x2 devices will be optimized for
specific applications and will integrate processors for control and MAC processing. A release date
has not been announced, but the first devices are expected to arrive in late 2011 or early 2012.
4.9 PMC-Sierra Inc.
PMC-Sierra is a leading network silicon vendor shipping a mix of MIPS-based processors, high-
speed mixed signal devices and communication semiconductors including TDM, Sonet/SDH,

27
Ethernet and PON. In November 2010, PMC-Sierra completed the acquisition of Wintegra, a
fabless semiconductor company founded in J anuary 2000 that develops single-chip communica-
tions processors for access networks. Key customers include Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and Tellabs.

The 65nm WinPath3 is a third-generation device. WinPath3 integrates up to 12 RISC engines
and two MIPS 34K cores. PMC-Sierra has developed software for the LTE MAC and backhaul
packet processing, It has also introduced a half-size device, the WinPath3-SL. Volume pricing is
less than $50 for WinPath3 and less than $25 for WinPath3 SL. AMC modules for LTE base
stations using the WinPath3 are available from Accipiter, CommAgility, Interphase and Xalyo.
4.10 Texas Instruments Inc.
Texas Instruments is a leading supplier of multicore DSP devices for a wide range of applications,
including wireless base stations. The company's DSPs are widely used in 2G and 3G base
stations, including those supporting HSPA+. C64x+-based AMC modules for use in base stations
are available from CommAgility. The latest C66x+-based multicore DSP devices provide an
attractive upgrade path, supporting LTE and LTE-Advanced. Texas Instruments also has a range
of RF components that have been used in WiMax systems, but it has not yet announced any
integrated WiMax or LTE solutions.

The four TCI66xx Keystone devices included in this report (TCI6612/14/16/18) integrate 2 or 4
1.2GHz 66x+cores and acceleration for security and packet processing. Two devices (TCI6612/
14) also integrate an ARM Cortex A8 RISC core for control and service applications. The devices
are suitable for small cells as well as large macro base stations. The TCI6618 will support the
40MHz minimum channel bandwidth required for LTE-Advanced.

28
V. Handset & CPE Devices
This section covers LTE baseband devices and LTE-ready application processors for handsets
and customer premises equipment (CPE). Handsets and CPE cover all types of LTE subscriber
units, including smartphones, tablets, PDAs and other mobile devices, USB dongles, PC cards,
residential gateways and modems. All these devices require cost-effective and very low-power
silicon solutions.

Figure 5.1: LTE Subscriber Unit


Figure 5.1 shows a typical LTE subscriber unit with network interface, baseband, AFE, RF front-
end and application processor. The technology is very similar to that used in the base station
devices; however, the throughput is lower and integration much higher. All the leading vendors
have chipsets that include application processor, baseband, AFE, RF front end and in many
cases a power management chip. Most vendors supply chipsets mounted onto a multi-chip
module to reduce cost and real estate.
5.1 LTE CPE & Handset Baseband Devices
Figure 5.2 summarizes LTE handset and CPE baseband devices from leading vendors. Inte-
grated baseband and application processor devices are covered in Section 5.2. LTE subscriber
baseband devices are shipping from Altair, Cavium (Wavesat), GCT Semiconductor, Qualcomm
and ST-Ericsson. Broadcom (Beceem), Nvidia (Icera), Renesas and Sequans are sampling
devices to customers. Samsung and Motorola have in-house LTE baseband. Fujitsu, NEC and
Panasonic Mobile Communications have developed an LTE mobile handset SoC design under a
collaborative project with NTT Docomo in J apan.

Early devices from GCT, Sequans and ST-Ericsson supported just LTE. Devices from Altair and
Cavium support LTE and WiMax. Devices from the rest support a mix of LTE, 3G and 2G
networks. The Qualcomm MSM9600 and Nvidia ICE8061 will handle 50 Mbit/s (Cat 2). Most
devices will handle 100 Mbit/s (Cat 3). The Broadcom BCM21880, Intel ComMAX LT8000,
Marvell PXA1801 and Qualcomm MDM9625 devices will support 150 Mbit/s (Cat 4). The Broad-
com BCM21880 is believed to be the only device already sampling the supports LTE category 4.

29
Most devices will support both FDD and TDD LTE. The Innofidei TD-LTE device is a TDD-only
solution. The GCT GDM7240, Nvidia ICE8061 and ST-Ericsson M720 platform do not support
TDD LTE. Semiconductor technology used for these devices is moving quickly with the earliest
devices using 55/65nm, the latest devices using 40nm and devices from Qualcomm planned for
the end of 2011 using 28nm technology.

Figure 5.2: LTE CPE & Handset Device Summary
COMPANY/
DEVICE
NETWORKS
LTE UE
CATEGORY
FDD PROCESS
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Altair FourGee-
3100
LTE, WiMax, XGP 3 FDD, TDD N/D Sampling
Broadcom
BCM21880
LTE, WiMax 4 FDD, TDD N/D Sampling
Cavium Odyssey
OD9010
LTE , WiMax, XG-PHS 3
TDD, H-FDD
and FDD
55nm Production
GCT GDM7240 LTE 3 FDD N/D Production
Innofidei TD-LTE LTE N/D TDD N/D Sampling
Intel ComMAX
LT8000
LTE, 3G, 2G, 4 FDD, TDD N/D N/D
Marvell PXA1801
LTE, DC-HSPA+, TD-
SCDMA, EDGE
4 FDD, TDD N/D N/D
Nvidia ICE8061
LTE, HSPA+,
GPRS/EDGE
2 FDD 40nm Sampling
Qualcomm
MSM9600
2G, 3G, LTE 2 FDD, TDD N/D Production
Qualcomm
MDM9615
LTE, DC-HSPA+, EVDO
Rev-B and TD-SCDMA
N/D FDD, TDD 28nm Late 2011
Qualcomm
MDM9625
LTE, DC-HSPA+, EVDO
Rev-B and TD-SCDMA
4 FDD, TDD 28nm 4Q11
Renesas Mobile
SP2531
LTE, EVDO Rev. B,
HSPA+
3 FDD, TDD N/D Sampling
Sequans
SQN3010
LTE 3 FDD, TDD 65nm Sampling
ST-Ericsson
M700 Platform
LTE 3 FDD, TDD N/D Production
ST-Ericsson
M720 Platform
LTE/HSPA+/EDGE 3 FDD N/D Production
ST-Ericsson
M7400
LTE (FDD/TDD, HSPA+/
EDGE/TD-SCDMA
3 FDD, TDD N/D Sampling

Figure 5.3 shows LTE CPE and handset device features. Most devices support channel band-
widths up to 20MHz. The Cavium Odyssey supports up to 18MHz and the 50Mbit/s Nvidia
ICE8061 just 10MHz. VoLTE is supported by devices from Altair, Broadcom, GCT, Renesas and
ST-Ericsson. None of these devices is ready for production yet.

Interfaces to the RF device are either analog or digital. The GCT GDM7240 is the only device
with integrated RF. Power consumption for the Cavium Odyssey OD9010 is 120mW. None of the
other vendors has released power consumption information. Packages are typically 8x8mm or

30
9x9mm. The GCT GDM7240 is larger at 13x13mm. Qualcomm has released very little informa-
tion on planned products.

Figure 5.3: LTE CPE & Handset Device Features
COMPANY/
DEVICE
CHANNEL
BANDWIDTHS
VOLTE MIMO
RF
INTERFACE
POWER PACKAGE
Altair FourGee-3100 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20MHz 4x2 Analog N/D 9x9 VFBGA
Broadcom
BCM21880
Up to 20 MHz 2x2 N/D N/D N/D
Cavium Odyssey
OD9010
3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14,
17, 18MHz
N/D 2x2 Digital IQ 120 mW
9x9 mm
FPBGA-256
GCT GDM7240
1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz,
10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz
Yes
Integrated
RF
N/D
13x13mm
BGA
Innofidei TD-LTE N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Intel ComMAX
LT8000
N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Nvidia ICE8061 1.4, 3, 5, 10MHz Yes Analog IQ N/D
8x8mm
BGA
Marvell PXA1801 N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Qualcomm
MDM9600
Qualcomm
MDM9615
Qualcomm
MDM9625
Renesas Mobile
SP2531
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20MHz Yes DigRF N/D BGA
Sequans SQN3010 10, 20MHz N/D 2x2 N/D N/D N/D
ST-Ericsson M700
Platform
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz Yes N/D N/D N/D
ST-Ericsson M720
Platform
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz Yes N/D N/D N/D
ST-Ericsson M7400 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz Yes N/D N/D N/D
5.2 LTE Ready Application Processors
LTE smartphones use the highest-performance application processors. Figure 5.4 lists the
leading application processors that are suitable for LTE smartphones and tablets. The latest
solutions from Qualcomm integrate application processor cores and LTE/3G modem. Several
smartphone manufacturers including Apple and Samsung have their own application processors.
Other vendors with mobile application processors are Marvell and Freescale.

The Intel Atom Z670 launched in April 2011, and slower Z6xx family members are designed for
tablets. The device requires a separate SM35 chipset. The Nvidia Tegra 2 application processor
with two ARM A9 cores is widely used in smartphones today. Both devices are in 45nm and are
currently in production.


31
The Qualcomm Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets integrate modem, Snapdragon application
processor with one, two or four cores, and Adreno graphics processor. The MSM8x55 and
MSM8x60 have Scorpion application processors and integrate a 3G modem and Adreno 2xx. The
MSM8930, MSM8960 and MSM8974 use the new 28nm Krait application processor cores and
integrate LTE (Cat 2, Cat 3 or Cat 4) and 3G modem. The Qualcomm APQ8064 device integrates
four Krait cores and can be used with the Qualcomm MDM9625 LTE modem devices for
150Mbit/s LTE (Cat 4) applications before the MSM8974 is available in 2013.

Renesas and ST-Ericsson offer application processors as part of their mobile platforms. The
Renesas APE5R and ST-Ericsson A95xx application processors have dual ARM A9 cores. The
28nm ST-Ericsson A9600 application processor, planned for the second half of 2011, will have
two ARM A15 cores. The Texas Instruments OMAP44x0 application processors also integrate
two ARM A9 processor cores.

Figure 5.4: LTE Ready Application Processor Summary
COMPANY/
DEVICE
INTEGRATED
MODEM
PROCESSOR
CORE
NUMBER
OF CORES
MAX CORE
SPEED
PROCESS
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Intel Atom Z670 None Atom 1 1.5GHz 45nm Production
Nvidia Tegra 2 None ARM A9 2 1.0GHz 45nm Production
Qualcomm
MSM8x55
HSPA+,
CDMA2000 1X,
1xEVDO Rev.
0/A/B
Scorpion 1 1.4GHz 45nm Production
Qualcomm
MSM8x60
HSPA+,
CDMA2000 1X,
1xEVDO Rev.
0/A/B
Scorpion 2 1.5GHz 45nm Production
Qualcomm
MSM8960
LTE Cat 2,
TD-SCDMA
Krait 2 N/D 28nm Sampling
Qualcomm
MSM8930
LTE Cat 3,
TD-SCDMA
Krait 1 N/D 28nm 1H12
Qualcomm
MSM8974
LTE Cat 4,
DC-HSPA+,
1xAdv/DOrA/B,
TD-SCDMA
Krait 4 N/D 28nm 1H13
Qualcomm
APQ8064
None Krait 4 N/D 28nm 1H12
Renesas APE5R None ARM A9 2 N/D N/D Sampling
ST-Ericsson A9500 None ARM A9 2 1.2GHz 45nm Production
ST-Ericsson A9540 None ARM A9 2 1.85GHz 32nm 2H11
ST-Ericsson A9600 None ARM A15 2 2.5GHz 28nm 2H11
Texas Instruments
OMAP4430
None ARM9 2 1GHz 45nm Sampling
Texas Instruments
OMAP4460
None ARM9 2 1GHz 45nm 1Q11

Figure 5.5 shows the key features of the leading LTE-ready application processors. Intel, Nvidia
and Qualcomm use internally developed graphics cores. Renesas, ST-Ericsson and Texas
Instruments license the Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX5 or PowerVR SGX6 ("Rogue")

32
multi-processor graphics IP. Later devices support HDMI display output and 720p or 1080 HD
video playback at 30 frames per second. The Texas Instruments OMAP devices also support 3D
video playback. Several devices support both front and back cameras up to 20 megapixels (MP)
and 12MP respectively.

Figure 5.5: LTE Ready Application Processor Features
COMPANY/
DEVICE
GRAPHICS
CORE (GPU)
DISPLAY
CONTROLLERS
VIDEO PLAY-
BACK (30FPS)
3D
VIDEO
CAMERA
SUPPORT
PERIPHERAL
INTERFACE
Intel Atom
Z670
Intel VGA, HDMI N/D N/D N/D
USB, SDIO,
SATA
Nvidia Tegra 2 Nvidia ULP
HDMI,
LCD/CRT
1080p N/D
12MP +
5MP
N/D
Qualcomm
MSM8x55
Adreno 205 WXGA 720p N/D 12MP N/D
Qualcomm
MSM8x60
Adreno 220
WXGA with
HDMI mirroring
1080p N/D 12MP N/D
Qualcomm
MSM8930
Adreno 305 N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Qualcomm
MSM8960
Qualcomm
APQ8064
Renesas
APE5R
Imagination
Technologies
PowerVR
SGX MP
N/D 1080p N/D N/D N/D
ST-Ericsson
A9500
ST-Ericsson
A9540
ST-Ericsson
A9600
Imagination
Technologies
"Rogue"
N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Texas
Instruments
OMAP4430
Imagination
Technologies
PowerVR
SGX540
WUXGA +
HDMI
1080p 720p
20MP +
5MP
UART, SDIO,
I2C
Texas
Instruments
OMAP4460
Imagination
Technologies
PowerVR
SGX540
WUXGA +
HDMI
1080p 1080p
20MP +
12MP
UART, SDIO,
I2C

33
VI. Handset & CPE Silicon Vendors
This section covers the leading handset and CPE silicon vendors. Figure 6.1 shows which type
of device is shipping or in development from each of the leading vendors.

Figure 6.1: Handset/CPE Silicon Vendors
COMPANY
APPLICATION
PROCESSOR
BASEBAND
INTEGRATED APPLICATION
PROCESSOR/BASEBAND
RF
Altair
Analog Devices
Broadcom
Cavium
Fujitsu
GCT
Genasic
Innofidei
Intel
Marvell
Maxim
Nvidia
Qualcomm
Renesas
Semtech
Sequans
ST-Ericsson
Texas Instruments
6.1 Altair Semiconductor Ltd.
Altair, formed in May 2005 and based in Israel, recently completed a $26 million funding round,
led by J erusalem Venture Partners. It has developed low-power baseband and RF devices for
mobile devices. The PHY implementation is based on Altair's proprietary Optimized OFDMA
Processor (O
2
P) that was developed specifically for OFDM applications, such as WiMax and LTE.

The FourGee-3100 LTE baseband device integrates MAC, PHY and AFE, security acceleration
and 32-bit MIPS RISC core. The FourGee-6200 RF transceiver device has analog baseband
interface and supports both TDD and FDD LTE across the full 700MHz to 2.7GHz range. The
FourGee-6150 RF transceiver device supports just TDD in the 2.3-2.7GHz range. Both devices
support 20MHz channel bandwidth. The devices were first sampled to customers in September
2009, and Altair claims 15 customers so far, including IPWireless. Altair is testing the solution
with Tier 1 infrastructure vendors including Alcatel-Lucent and carriers including Vodafone.

Altair is focusing on PC-centric applications including USB dongles, routers and SIP modules for
tablets. The company is working on a next-generation solution and recently announced it had
licensed MIPS Technologies' multi-threaded synthesizable processor IP for next-generation

34
chipsets. Altair is working on solutions for LTE-Advanced and will support release 9 using a
software upgrade and release 10 in a new product planned for 2014/2015.
6.2 Broadcom Corp.
Broadcom is a $6.8 billion company with a market-leading position for silicon solutions, covering
broadband communications and networking. Founded in 1991, the company has approximately
9,460 employees worldwide. In November 2010 Broadcom acquired Beceem Communications, a
privately-held company that developed silicon solutions for LTE and WiMax, for $316 million.
Beceem Communications had developed six generations of WiMax baseband devices and was
cash positive.

The BCM21880 (was Beceem BSC500) multimode device announced in February 2010 supports
WiMax and LTE and is the first CPE device to support 150 Mbit/s downstream (Cat 4). Broadcom
already has several customers for the BCM21880, which is expected to go into production during
the second half of 2011. Broadcom is working on future devices that will include integration with
multimedia functions.
6.3 Cavium Inc.
Cavium is a worldwide leader in security, network services and content processing semiconductor
solutions. It has a successful line of multicore processors, security processors, ARM-based
communications processors and video and content processors that support 10 Mbit/s to 40 Gbit/s
throughputs for wired and wireless network equipment. Cavium multicore processors are used in
LTE base stations, covered in Section 4.1.

In J anuary 2011, Cavium acquired WiMax and LTE baseband vendor Wavesat. Wavesat was
founded in 2003, and its first fixed WiMax device, developed with Atmel, began shipping in 2004.
The NP7256 mobile WiMax device was introduced in February 2007. The first WiMax devices
from Wavesat implemented the OFDMA and lower MAC in hardware.

The Odyssey 8500, announced in May 2008, was based on a new proprietary DSP architecture.
The DSP architecture is a customized version of a licensed core. In May 2008, Wavesat also
released details of the Odyssey 9000 series LTE devices, using the same architecture.

The 55nm Odyssey 9010 device was sampled to customers in March 2010 and is now available
in production quantities. The Odyssey 9010 supports LTE, WiMax, WiFi and XG-PHS for the
Willcom XGP broadband wireless network. The 120mW device is packaged in a 9mm x 9mm
BGA, making this suitable for handsets and USB dongles. The Odyssey 9010 supports 100Mbit/s
Cat 3 devices. The next-generation Odyssey 9050 device is expected to support Cat 4 devices
with 150 Mbit/s downlink.
6.4 GCT Semiconductor Inc.
GCT Semiconductor provides CMOS RF and baseband solutions for CDMA, WiMax and LTE.
The company has developed has developed a single chip LTE solution with LG and this began
shipping in the second quarter of 2010. The GDM7240 supports 100Mbit/s FDD LTE and channel
bandwidths up to 20MHz. The device integrates the RF front end.

The GDM7240 (LG L2000) is used, with the Qualcomm MSM8655 application processor, in the
LG Revolution smartphone and is qualified for use on the Verizon LTE network. GCT is working
on an LTE TDD solution and multimode solutions for LTE and HSPA, etc.

35
6.5 Innofidei Inc.
Beijing-based Innofidei has developed a TD-LTE modem device for USB dongles that supports
80 Mbit/s downstream and 30 Mbit/s upstream. The 65nm device was first shown October 2010.
The company has completed interoperability tests with ZTE.
6.6 Intel Corp.
Intel, the leading supplier of processors, is making a strong push into the wireless market. The
company is starting to promote the Atom processor for tablets and future smartphones and has
made several key investments.

In May 2010, Intel acquired ComSys, which was formed in 1998 and was a leading supplier of 2G
and 3G software, with more than 20 million handsets using its technology. The first ComSys
WiMax device was introduced in 2006. The ComMAX LT8000 LTE baseband device was devel-
oped to support multimode handsets and dongles with 2G, 3G and Cat 4 LTE up to 150 Mbit/s
downstream. The device was being designed for availability in late 2011 or early 2012. The
current status of this development is unclear.

In August 2010, Intel announced that it was acquiring the Wireless Solutions business from
Infineon Technologies, in a deal reported to be worth more than $1.2 billion. Before the acquisi-
tion completed in J anuary 2011, Infineon wireless acquired Blue Wonder a Dresden, Germany-
based company that had developed TDD and FDD multimode baseband IP that would support
Cat 4 LTE.

Intel continues to market the SMARTi RF transceiver devices developed by Infineon. The 65nm
SMARTi LTE RF transceiver supports LTE bands I through IX. The SMARTi LU supports LTE,
HSPA+, HSPA, WCDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
6.7 Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
Marvell supplies silicon devices for the storage, communications and consumer markets. In
September 2011 the company announced the PXA1801, a single-chip LTE modem. The device
supports 150Mbit/s category 4 FDD/TDD LTE, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA and EDGE. Marvell also
supplies the PXA range of application processors.
6.7 Nvidia Inc.
Nvidia, one of the leading graphics chipset vendors, is making a strong push into the mobile
processor market. The Tegra 2 application processor is developed from Nvidia's GeForce
graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture. The Tegra 2 integrates two ARM A9 processors,
ultra-low power (ULP) GeForce GPU and 1080p video playback processor. The device is used in
several leading smartphone devices. Nvidia is working on a third-generation, quad-core device
with enhanced video processing that is expected to be available during the second half of 2011.

In May 2011, Nvidia acquired Icera for $367 million. Icera, founded in 2002, had raised $260
million to develop market-leading wireless handset solutions. The Livano wireless soft modem is
at the core of Nvidia's solution. Nvidia has won important HSPA designs with leading handset
makers and is driving significant revenue growth. Icera demonstrated a dual-mode LTE/HSPA
modem running on Livano-based commercial HSPA USB data sticks in February 2010.

The ICE8061 is part of the Espresso 410 chipset. The device supports Cat 2 FDD LTE with
10MHz channel bandwidth. The company is working on an Espresso 500 chipset that will support
20MHz channel bandwidth and TDD LTE that should be available in 2012.

36
6.8 Qualcomm Inc.
Qualcomm is the leading supplier of CDMA2000 baseband devices and a leading supplier of
application processors for handsets. In 2008, the company announced the MDM9xxx-series
multimode chipsets for LTE. The Qualcomm MDM9600 was first sampled to customers during
2009. The HTC Thunderbolt LTE smartphone, now available for the Verizon LTE network, uses
the MDM9600 and Qualcomm MSM8655 1GHz Snapdragon application processor.

There are four generations of Snapdragon application processors (S1-S4). The 45nm Snapdra-
gon S2 MSM8655 integrates a single Scorpion RISC core, Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics core
and 3G modem. The Snapdragon S3 MSM8660 integrates dual Scorpion RISC cores, enhanced
Adreno 220 graphics core, with support for HDMI out and 3G modem. Qualcomm claim the
Scorpion application processor cores are slightly higher performance than the equivalent ARM 9
processor core.

In February 2011, Qualcomm announced the 28nm Snapdragon S4 family of devices integrating
an enhanced processor core, code-named "Krait." The first Snapdragon S4 chipset to sample is
the MSM8960. This device integrates two 1.5GHz "Krait" cores, Adreno 225 graphics core and
Cat 3 (100Mbit/s) LTE modem. Production is planned for late 2011.

The MSM8960 will be followed by the MSM8930, a cut-down version with a lower-speed core and
Cat 2 (50Mbit/s) LTE modem, and the APQ8064 device with four "Krait" cores and no modem.
These 2012 devices will integrate new Adreno 3xx graphics cores. In 2013 Qualcomm plans to
introduce the MSM8974 with the four "Krait" cores and Adreno 320 graphics blocks from the
APQ8064 and a dual-mode 3G/LTE Cat 4 (150Mbit/s) modem.
6.9 Renesas Mobile
Renesas Mobile is a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corp. Renesas Mobile was formed in
December 2010 by combining the Renesas application processor group and Nokia's wireless
modem business that Renesas had just acquired. The company has 1,800 employees, including
a wireless modem team that has been in the market for more than 20 years. The company
supplies application processors and wireless modem devices for smartphones, tablets and USB
cards, as well as chipsets for car infotainment systems.

Renesas Mobile announced the MP5225 High-End Smartphone Platform with support for LTE in
February 2011. The 45nm chipset is sampling to customers and includes the APE5R application
processor, SP2531 baseband processor and a radio front end device. The APE5R integrates two
ARM9 processor cores and Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX multiprocessor graphics.
The SP2531 supports Cat 3 LTE (100 Mbit/s), DC-HSPA+EDGE and GSM.
6.10 Sequans Communications
Sequans was formed in 2003 and announced its first-generation products for fixed WiMax in
October 2005. The company has a complete WiMax chipset solution, including a WiMax base
station baseband device, RF transceiver device and subscriber unit baseband. The Sequans
baseband devices implement MAC and PHY in hardware with an ARM processor for control. The
company has had a strong market position for mobile WiMax devices, with customers including
Alcatel, Airspan, Huawei, Redline, Telsima and ZyXEL.

In March 2010, Sequans announced the SQN3010 LTE baseband device, which is optimized for
TD-LTE. The device will support Cat 3 LTE and is sampling to customers. China Mobile selected
Sequans to provide LTE chips and USB dongles for its TD-LTE demonstration network. The
company is working an LTE RF solution, higher integration and multi-mode support.

37
6.11 ST-Ericsson
ST-Ericsson is a joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, formed in 2008 to offer
semiconductors and platforms to the wireless handset industry. Its key customers are Nokia,
Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Sharp. The J V integrates the Ericsson Mobile platforms group
and ST-NXP Wireless, a J V with NXP Semiconductor, then fully owned by STMicroelectronics.

ST-Ericsson's first-generation LTE platforms have been sampling to customers since September
2009. The M700 platform consists of three devices: DB7000 baseband, AB5000 AFE device and
RF7000 RF transceiver. The M700 supports LTE only and is designed for use in fixed broadband
applications. The M710 adds support for HSPA and EDGE, and the M720 also supports HSPA+.
The M700 platform is usually matched with "Nova" application processors, such as the 45nm
A9500 that integrates two 1.2GHz A9 processor cores. An enhanced 32nm A9540, planned for
the second half of 2011, will integrate two 1.85GHz A9 processor cores. Announced customers
for the first-generation LTE platforms include Quanta Computer, which is using the M700 and
A9500 in a 10.1-inch tablet reference design.

ST-Ericsson's second-generation LTE platforms ("Thor") were announced in February 2011. The
40nm M7400 LTE modem consists of a baseband and RF device. The modem supports LTE Cat
3, HSPA+, EDGE and TD-SCDMA. The M7400 is sampling to customers and will support VoLTE.
ST-Ericsson has also released details on the A9600, an enhanced "Nova" application processor
with two 2.5GHz A15 processor cores and Imagination Technologies PowerVR Series6 "Rogue"
GPU. The A9600 will be available during the second half of 2011. ST-Ericsson is also developing
"NovaThor" integrated LTE modem and application processor devices.
6.12 Texas Instruments Inc.
The Texas Instruments OMAP application processors are used by a number of leading handset
manufacturers. The 45nm OMAP4 application processors (OMAP4430/4460) have two 1GHz
ARM9 processor cores and Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX540 graphics. Texas
Instruments are working on 28nm OMAP5 application processors with ARM A15 cores. These
are expected to be available during 2012.

38
VII. RF Chips & Vendors
Both CPE/handset and base station baseband devices are designed to work with RF transceiver
devices. Figure 14 shows RF transceiver devices from nine vendors. Some of these were
originally developed for WiMax. This section includes profiles for RF devices vendors that do not
supply other LTE devices.

There are 12 vendors with announced RF devices for LTE. The full list is shown in Figure 7.1,
with supported networks and target applications. All the devices will support TDD LTE; most of
them will also support FDD LTE. Most of the devices designed for smartphones and tablets also
support 3G and 2G networks for backward compatibility. This is less important for USB dongles
and PC cards. Devices from Analog Devices, Lime Microsystems, Maxim and Semtech will also
support WiMax.

Figure 7.1: LTE RF Device Applications
COMPANY/DEVICE
FDD
LTE
WIMAX 3G 2G
SMART-
PHONES,
TABLETS
USB
DONGLES &
PC CARDS
BASE
STATIONS
Altair FourGee-6150
Altair FourGee-6200
Analog Devices AD9354
Fujitsu MB86L10A
Fujitsu MB86L12A
Genasic GEN4100
Nvidia ICE8261
Intel SMARTi LU
Intel SMARTi LTE
Lime Microsystems LMS6002D
Maxim MAX2839
Qualcomm WTR1605
Renesas RFIC
Semtech SMI7336
ST-Ericsson Wireless RF7000
Two AD935x devices are needed to support FDD LTE

Figure 7.2 shows further information on the RF devices, including the number of transmit and
receive channels, the frequencies covered, maximum channel bandwidth and current availability.
Most devices support two transmit and two receive channels. Several of the older devices,
developed from WiMax solutions, support a very limited range of LTE frequencies. Most of the
devices support a range of LTE frequency bands. Analog Devices and Semtech supply different
devices for each frequency band.

39
Figure 7.2: LTE RF Device Summary
COMPANY/
DEVICE
NETWORKS TX RX FREQUENCY
CHANNEL
BANDWIDTH
AVAIL-
ABILITY
Altair FourGee-6150 LTE 2 2 2.3-2.7GHz 20MHz Production
Altair FourGee-6200 LTE 2 2
700MHz-
2.7GHz
20MHz Production
Analog Devices
AD9354
WiMax/WiBro/
BWA, LTE
1 2 2.3-2.7GHz
3.5 MHz, 4.375
MHz, 5 MHz, 7 MHz,
8.75 MHz, 10 MHz
Production
Analog Devices
AD9355
WiMax/BWA,
LTE
1 2 3.3-3.8GHz
3.5 MHz, 4.375
MHz, 5 MHz, 7 MHz,
8.75 MHz, 10 MHz
Production
Analog Devices
AD9356
WiMax/WiBro/
BWA, LTE
2 2 2.3-2.7GHz
3.5 MHz, 4.375
MHz, 5 MHz, 7 MHz,
8.75 MHz, 10 MHz
Production
Analog Devices
AD9357
WiMax/WiBro/
BWA, LTE
2 2 3.3-3.8GHz
3.5 MHz, 4.375
MHz, 5 MHz, 7 MHz,
8.75 MHz, 10 MHz
Production
Fujitsu MB86L10A
LTE, WCDMA,
GSM/EDGE
8 14
700MHz-
2.7GHz
N/D Production
Fujitsu MB86L12A
LTE, WCDMA,
GSM/EDGE
8 14
700MHz-
2.7GHz
N/D Sampling
Genasic GEN4100 LTE 2 2
698MHz-
2.7GHz
up 20MHz Sampling
Nvidia ICE8261
LTE, HSPA+.
GPRS/EDGE
N/D N/D N/D 5, 10MHz Sampling
Intel SMARTi LU LTE, 3G, 2G N/D N/D N/D
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and
20 MHz
N/D
Intel SMARTi LTE LTE N/D N/D N/D 5, 10, 20MHz N/D
Lime Microsystems
LMS6002D
WiMax, 3G,
LTE
2 2 375MHz-4GHz 1.5-28MHz N/D
Maxim MAX2839 WiMax, LTE 1 2 2.3-2.7GHz 1.5-20MHz Production
Qualcomm
WTR1605
LTE, CDMA,
WCDMA, TD-
SCDMA, GSM
N/D N/D N/D N/D Late 2011
Renesas RFIC
LTE, DC-
HSPA+,
EDGE, GSM
N/D N/D
Up to seven E-
UTRA bands;
up to five
WCDMA/
HS bands
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15,
20MHz
Sampling
Semtech SMI7336 WiMax, LTE 2 2
2.76-3.48GHz
2.12-2.76GHz
690-870MHz
530-690MHz
460-580MHz
354-460MHz
3.5 MHz, 5 MHz,
7 MHz, 8.75 MHz,
10 MHz and 20 MHz
Production
ST-Ericsson
Wireless RF7000
LTE N/D N/D N/D
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and
20 MHz
Sampling

40
Real estate, power and temperature range are all important for both smartphone handset usage
and base stations. Figure 7.3 shows key parameters for each device. Older devices are in 0.18
CMOS or SiGe. Newer devices are believed to be 65nm or 40nm. Most devices are in a 7x7mm,
8x8mm or 9x9mm package. The interface to baseband from the RF devices can be either analog
or digital. The Lime Microsystems LMS6002D is the only device to support both.

Figure 7.3: LTE RF Device Detail s
COMPANY/
DEVICE
BASEBAND
INTERFACE
TEMP.
RANGE
PROCESS PACKAGE POWER
Altair FourGee-6150 Analog IQ N/D N/D 8x8mm QFN N/D
Altair FourGee-6200 Analog IQ N/D N/D 8x8mm QFN N/D
Analog Devices
AD9354
J ESD207
-40C to
+85C
0.18 CMOS 88mm 56LFCSP N/D
Analog Devices
AD9355
J ESD207
-40C to
+85C
0.18 CMOS 88mm 56LFCSP N/D
Analog Devices
AD9356
J ESD207
-40C to
+85C
0.18 CMOS 10x10mm 144-BGA N/D
Analog Devices
AD9357
J ESD207
-40C to
+85C
0.18 CMOS 10x10mm 144-BGA N/D
Fujitsu MB86L10A 2x DigRF N/D 90nm 6.5x9mm 230LGA N/D
Fujitsu MB86L12A 2x DigRF N/D 90nm 6.5x9mm 230LGA N/D
Genasic GEN4100 J ESD207
-40C to
+85C
65nm CMOS N/D
<300mW
typ
Nvidia ICE8261 Analog IQ N/D N/D 7x7mm BGA N/D
Intel SMARTi LU Analog IQ N/D 65nm CMOS N/D N/D
Intel SMARTi LTE Analog IQ N/D 65nm CMOS N/D N/D
Lime Microsystems
LMS6002(D)
Analog IQ,
J ESD207 (D only)
-40C to
+85C
SiGe 0.18 108-pin DQFN 600mW
Maxim MAX2839 Analog IQ
-40 C to
+85 C
N/D 8x68mm 56TQFN N/D
Qualcomm
WTR1605
N/D N/D N/D Wafer-level package N/D
Renesas RFIC DigRF N/D N/D N/D N/D
Semtech SMI7336 Analog IQ
-40C to
+85C
SiGe 8x8mm 64QFN N/D
ST-Ericsson
Wireless RF7000
N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D

Several devices have analog interfaces and are designed to work with baseband devices with
integrated digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters (DAC/ADC). The RF devices from
Analog Devices and Genasic integrate the DAC/ADCs and can be used with any baseband
device supporting the standardized J ESD207 digital interface. Lime Microsystems has a device
with the analog interface and one with the digital interface. The Fujitsu MB86L01A, announced in
J une 2010, supports the serial DigRF interface. All of these devices support TDD LTE. Most
integrate the two frequency synthesizers needed to support FDD. The Analog Devices compo-
nents support HFDD, and FDD can be supported using two devices.

41
Power consumption and package size are key parameters for RF front-end devices. Genasic and
Lime Microsystems were the only companies to release typical power numbers. The 600mW
Lime Microsystems LMS6001 is good for base stations and femtocells. Lime Microsystems has
also been working on a lower-power CMOS device. The <300mW Genasic GEN4100 device is
optimized for USB dongles.

Most WiMax/LTE RF devices are implemented using 0.18 SiGe or CMOS processes. This is in
significant contrast to most baseband chips that are 45nm or 65nm CMOS. Most devices support
industrial temperature range (-40C to +85C); however, a few devices developed for handsets,
such as the Sequans SQN1140/5, only support a reduced temperature range. Packages vary
from 7mm x 7mm for handset devices to 10mm x 10mm for base station devices.
7.1 Analog Devices Inc.
Analog Devices is a leading supplier of analog, mixed-signal and DSP devices. The company has
a wide range of components for wireless base stations, including high-performance RF devices.
The AD935x RF devices support 2.5GHz and 3.4GHz frequency bands for WiMax and LTE. All
the devices support the standardized J ESD207 digital baseband interface. The 1x2 MIMO
AD9354/5 devices are suitable for CPE applications, and the 2x2 MIMO AD9356/7 devices are
suitable for base stations. Two AD9356 devices are needed to support FDD LTE.

Analog Devices has been working closely with several baseband device vendors, including
Wavesat, Runcom, DesignArt and Sequans. The device is being used in several LTE trials, and
the company is working on new developments for LTE.
7.2 Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc.
Fujitsu Microelectronics, a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd., was one of the first companies to introduce a
WiMax chipset solution, working with Wi-LAN from 2002, before acquiring rights to the IP in 2006.
The company has won WiMax designs with several leading vendors, including Fujitsu Network
Communications. In 2009, the company acquired an RF team from Freescale Semiconductor.

In J une 2010, Fujitsu introduced its first LTE transceiver device. The MB86L10A transceiver
integrates the surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter and low noise amplifiers, significantly reducing
the number of external components required. The device has nine inputs that support LTE,
WCDMA and GSM/EDGE. The MB86L10A device supports FDD and TDD LTE and integrates
two 3G and 4G DigRF baseband interfaces. The device is in full production. An enhanced version
(MB86L12A) is currently sampling to customers.
7.3 Genasic Design Systems Ltd.
Genasic, a privately held company formed in 2009, has pulled together a team of design engi-
neers with significant RF chip design, including GSM and WiMax transceivers. The company's
first product is an LTE RF transceiver supporting 2x2 MIMO and FDD/TDD. The GEN4100 with
power consumption below 300mW is sampling to lead customers. The company is working with a
baseband chip partner and is already seeing traction with customers developing LTE dongles.
Genasic is working on a solution for LTE-Advanced that is expected to be available mid 2012.
7.4 Lime Microsystems Ltd.
Lime Microsystems was formed in 2005, and three years later the company announced its first
product, the LMS6001. The LM6001 transceiver was a single-chip, multi-band, multi-standard
broadband RFIC supporting frequency bands from 375MHz to 4GHz and channel bandwidths
from 1.5MHz to 28MHz. Lime Microsystems' core IP enables very flexible digital filtering, which is
key to supporting such a wide range of frequencies.

42
The LMS6001 has been replaced by the LMS6002D. The LMS6002D transceiver device supports
various networks, including WiMax, 3G, and LTE for FDD, HFDD and TDD duplex modes. The
LMS6002D has a digital baseband interface. All the devices are implemented in 0.18 SiGe, but
a CMOS version has been in development that should significantly reduce power consumption.
7.5 Maxim Integrated Products Inc.
Maxim is a leading analog and mixed-signal semiconductor company that acquired Dallas
Semiconductor in 2001. The company has a range of RF components for LTE and WiMax,
including the MAX2839 RF transceiver. The MAX2839 supports 1x2 MIMO for TDD 2.3-2.7GHz
and has an analog IQ baseband interface.
7.6 Semtech Corp.
Semtech is a leading analog and mixed-signal semiconductor supplier. In December 2009, the
company acquired Sierra Monolithics and its range of high-performance optical ICs, RFICs and
modules, including the $20 WiMax SMI7030 dual-band wireless transceiver.

Semtech is sampling two SiGe RF transceivers for 4G applications. The SMI7335 device is better
for WiMax, supporting four bands. The SMI7336 is better for LTE, supporting six bands including
700MHz. The devices support 2x2 MIMO, TDD, HFDD and channel bandwidths up to 20MHz.

43
Appendix A: About the Author
SIMON STANLEY
ANALYST AT LARGE, HEAVY READING

Simon Stanley is Founder and Principal Consultant at Earlswood Marketing Ltd., an independent
market analyst and consulting company based in the U.K. Stanley's recent work has included
investment due diligence, market analysis for investors and business/product strategy for semi-
conductor companies.

Over the last nine years, Stanley has written extensively for Heavy Reading and Light Reading.
His reports and Webinars cover a variety of communications-related subjects, including LTE,
IMS, WiMax, ATCA, MicroTCA, 40/100Gbit/s networking, 10Gbit/s Ethernet components, multi-
core processors, switch fabric chipsets, network processors and next-gen Sonet/SDH silicon. He
has also run several Light Reading Live! and virtual events covering ATCA, MicroTCA, 10Gbit/s
Ethernet components and broadband devices.

Stanley's previous reports for Heavy Reading include:

ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA Market Update & Five-Year Forecasts (March 2011)
Multicore Processors for Network Systems: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis
(October 2010)
ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA Market Update & Forecast (October 2009)
10-Gbit/s Ethernet Components: The Market Takes Shape (May 2009)
ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA Market Forecast: Revenue Surge Ahead (J une 2008)
ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA: The Next Generation (August 2006)
AdvancedTCA: Who's Doing What (J une 2005)
Network Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis (J anuary 2005)
10-Gbit/s Ethernet Components: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis (April 2004)

Prior to founding Earlswood Marketing, Stanley spent more than 15 years in product marketing
and business management. He has held senior positions with Fujitsu, National Semiconductor
and U.K. startup ClearSpeed, covering networking, personal systems and graphics in Europe,
North America and J apan.

Stanley has spent more than 30 years in the electronics industry, including several years design-
ing systems for leading aerospace and mass-transit manufacturers, before moving into semicon-
ductor marketing. In 1983, Stanley earned a Bachelor's in Electronic and Electrical Engineering
from Brunel University, London. He can be contacted at simon@earlswoodmarketing.com.

44
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