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The PC8219E from picoChip is the world’s first Class 3 femtocell reference design, bringing femtocell technology to campuses, rural areas, or “metrozone” hotspots, according to the company. The turnkey solution builds on picoChip’s field-proven PC8208 and 8209 physical layers (PHYs) to provide a complete extended-reach HSPA femtocell baseband.

Also known as “greater femtocells” or “superfemtos,” these new mobile cells resemble the 3GPP local-area basestation or traditional picocells while adding the femtocell’s capabilities to use standard backhaul and to self-configure for interference management. The Femto Forum recently standardized femtocells into Class 1 (typically residential), Class 2 (primarily indoor for enterprise), and Class 3 (rural, metro, and wider-area deployment).  

The design’s eight-user capacity, 2-km range, and support for vehicular mobility suit it for low-cost, wide-area open-access femtocell deployments where carriers need to cost-effectively enhance coverage and capacity, picoChip says. The PC8219E also provides a seamless migration path to picoChip’s PC3xx picoXcell systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), enabling manufacturers to move beyond the residential market and into outdoor applications, the company says.

Programmable, flexible, and easily integrated, the PC8219E offers self-configuration features and backhauls via the Internet. It also features industry-standard FAPI and FRMI interfaces, as defined by the Femto Forum, as well as fully compliant security functions. And, its network monitoring function enables the femtocell to reconfigure itself to behave like a handset receive chain, synchronizing with a macro-basestation nearby, improving network planning and providing the basis for self-organizing network (SON) functions.