Picochip Shows 3G Basestation On A USB At CES

Femtocell maker Picochip has unveiled its vision for putting an entire 3G cellular basestation on a USB dongle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Recent advances in semiconductor technology and signal processing, together with the advent of USB 3.0, make the concept of a USB femtocell a realistic possibility, according to Picochip. The company claims its picoXcell technology will allow operators to add HSPA+ home-basestation capabilities to appliances such as residential gateways, cable modems and set-top boxes via a USB device.

Femtocells – such as Vodafone’s Sure Signal – beef up 3G network strength in the home, using broadband for the uplink to the Internet, and have been touted as a way to solve the problem of 3G ‘not-spots’. Picochip claims that femtocells can also deliver faster data services, improve smartphone battery life and enable a variety of innovative ‘home zone’ services.

“It may sound incredible, but within a matter of months we’ll be able to fit a complete 3G basestation on a USB dongle,” said Rupert Baines, VP of Marketing at Picochip. “The last year has shown just how versatile femtocell technology is.”

Femtocells indoors and out

The concept is one of several developments being exhibited by Picochip at CES, designed to showcase the future of femtocell technology. Others include small form factor public access HSPA+ femtocells, picoArray 4G technology, and the company’s new platform for dual mode (LTE and HSPA+) small cells.

In September 2010, Picochip announced the development of its PC333 chip, designed for use in public spaces. The chip is able to reach around 2km, and handle mobile devices moving in cars or trains at speeds up to 120km/hour, with a soft handover to the rest of the network.

Picochip claims this could also go some way to solving the looming capacity crisis on 3G networks. According to Andy Gothard, director of marketing at picoChip, public access femtocells will just be part of the operators’ network, invisible except for the performance improvement.

“Operators are biting our hands off,” Gothard told eWEEK Europe at the time. “It costs £9 to move 1GB of data via macrocells, and it costs £2 to move it via femtocells.”

Meanwhile, Picochip has been promoting its femtocell technology further afield. In July 2010, it was announced that PicoChip had been selected by India’s Rancore Technologies to help develop base stations for use in 4G mobile broadband networks in India and around the world.

Picochip currently claims to provide around 70 percent of the chips used to make femtocells.