PA Consulting |
Rapid agile development—
speeding LTE to market
LTE technology can be developed in less than 12 months with careful use of existing
modules, by applying ‘Agile’ techniques and by using a good set of partners
says PA Consulting’s Steve Watts.
LTE is set to become
the major wireless
broadband global
standard; the preferred
3GPP
technology due to the
combination of its high performance, good
spectral efficiency and flat, well structured
network layer. The reach of LTE will drive high
product volumes, particularly for indoor coverage
solutions, and competition among vendors
to deliver these products will be intense.
To be early to market, developers of LTE
equipment need to cope with evolving
standards, regular design changes and very
high-speed platforms. It will be tough to hit
the market at exactly the right time without
careful consideration of the development
approach.
But significant LTE core technology
developments can be achieved in less than
12 months by applying a combination of
techniques, using off-the-shelf modules and
working with good partners.
There are a number of ways LTE equipment
can be developed quickly:
• Applying soft-defined architectures for flexibility
and scalability and to handle early
changes to standards and requirements
• Using off-the-shelf hardware to save
development time and risk
• Identifying available third party software
reference designs and IP, and reusing the
developer’s own existing IP, to save time
and risk
• Applying an ‘Agile’ development process
to significantly reduce development time
if handled carefully
• Developing an effective test environment,
making good use of reference models
and simulation, for efficient module and
system development
• Working with partners offering parts of
the puzzle to greatly reduce programme
risk.
Careful use of all or a combination of the
above can minimise the development time,
as well as reducing risk and NRE (non-recurring
engineering) costs in the bargain, helping
the developer hit the market sweet-spot.
Software Defined Radio has been an
established philosophy for many years.
Microprocessors, DSPs (digital signal
processors) and FPGAs (fixed programmable
gate arrays) are used to carry out
the signal processing and control rather
than inflexible ASICs (application-specific
integrated circuits). The benefits are well
known: flexible and scalable solutions allow
rapid development, early integration/field
trial and products, and quick bug-fixing.
Once the design is proven and requirements
solidify, cost reduction can follow with the
use of structured or full custom ASICs.
Soft-solutions are recommended for quick
turnaround for LTE products, as no delays are
caused by ASIC development. Moreover, softsolutions
on DSP and FPGA are now feasible
for more platforms than in the early days of
their availability due to the dramatic increase
in device performance and density, hugely
reduced costs and lower power dissipation.
Once only considered for low volume products,
soft-defined solutions are now cost effective for
many thousands or tens of thousands of units.
Rapid developments early in the life of an
evolving cellular standard require regular implementation
changes to cope with algorithm
definition, ambiguous standards definitions
and errors. So the product architecture and
platform must be designed for flexibility.
There are a number of different products
defined under the LTE banner: infrastructure
products including base stations,
which can be for large macro-cell sites
through to femtocell/domestic sites; terminals,
which can be handsets, data-terminals
or embedded modems; and test equipment,
which can be for base stations, terminals or
extended network equipment.
Sophisticated design will allow elements
of the platform to cover more than one of
these products and to scale within the family.
For example, a base station signal chain
on a scalable platform could be used on a
low specification, low-cost femtocell or on a
heavy duty, high-cost macro basestation.
Flexibility and scalability in terms of the
hardware platform and the software architecture
used, can deliver benefit in terms of
a portfolio of quickly available LTE products,
well suited to the different requirements.
In addition, new functionality can be
added simply as it evolves or as a customer
wants it, and bugs can be easily fixed.
Developers should also consider using
high performance, off-the-shelf hardware,
developed by specialists in high-speed
board design and interconnectivity. LTE
requires a very high performance platform
to handle the massive throughput of user
data and control information; this includes »
16 Mobile Communications International | LTE Supplement 2009
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