November 28, 2005 -- STMicroelectronics has unveiled a comprehensive solution for pico-cell base-station modems that combines the performance of the STW51000 baseband processor for wireless infrastructure applications with multi-standard software libraries, optimized for GSM, EDGE, W-CDMA, and WiMAX networks. ST has tested and specified the device to be used with 20 concurrent voice users in a Release 4 WCDMA network.

Pico-cell base stations provide enhanced wireless coverage inside office buildings, college campuses, subways, airports etc. Their importance grows with the arrival of 3G services, where even a relatively small number of high- speed data users can consume all the available resources of the nearest macro- cell base station.

By combining a DSP, ARM cores, a large amount of embedded memory, and dedicated co-processors in a single device with unique software libraries, ST's baseband modem offering meets critical cost and size constraints of pico- and nano-cell base-station designs. STW51000's chip-level integration results in the lowest cost-per-channel and an outstanding channel density of 20 voice users for the 3GPP WCDMA Release 4 with a single device.

ST's base-station modem offers a low Bill of Materials (BOM) and small footprint, as well as performance. One chip delivers up to 1.2GHz of quad-MAC DSP core performance and 300MHz of ARM926 processing power. Both DSPs only run the signal processing tasks, which they are optimized for, and thus no DSP cycles are wasted to execute the control tasks. The ARM926 acts as the SoC controller, handling all control tasks such as protocol stacks, memory management, RTOS, and drivers.

Two STW51000 can handle as many as 16 HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) users sharing a 14.4-Mbps throughput, while a single-device implementation can address up to two-carrier GSM/EDGE and a complete WiMAX 802.6e 10MHz PHY, set up in the TDD (Time-Division-Duplexing) mode

The ST solution includes a full set of associated software libraries, providing the market's most comprehensive wireless standard portfolio. For the first time, original equipment manufacturers can implement wireless standards such as GSM, EDGE, WCDMA - including HSDPA and HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) - as well as WiMAX from a single source, simplifying their supply chain and reducing their development costs. Thanks to its multi-standard support, the same device can be easily upgraded to fit the requirements of a new application.

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