Transceiver IC Handles Multiple Bands, Standards

Feb 19, 2009 12:23 PM, MD&D News Staff

The LMS6002 is a multiband, multi-standard RF transceiver IC targeting femtocells and small cellular basestations. The highly frequency-agile transceiver operates at user-selectable frequencies between 375 MHz and 4 GHz and is suitable for 3G, WiMAX, and LTE applications. Lime Microsystems has announced the availability of the LMS6002 and is demonstrating it to selected customers at the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

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Users can digitally configure the transceiver to operate in the full range of frequency bands, with 16 user-selectable bandwidths of up to 28 MHz. This means that it can transmit and receive data across all WCDMA and CDMA bands, as well as those used or planned for WiMAX and LTE. This eliminates the need for individual transceiver chips for each of the different bands. It also allows a small cell basestation to be reconfigured rapidly and simply. The resulting reduction in bill of materials minimizes costs and inventory for OEMs.

The LMS6002’s multiple RF inputs and outputs enable features such as the GSM Listen Mode required for femtocell operation. The device has a standard serial port interface for programming and includes provision for a full calibration function. Fine tuning has permitted additional performance optimizations that should permit OEMs to use fewer peripheral components, further reducing the bill of materials and costs for femtocells.

The LMS6002 is packaged in a 9- by 9-mm 116-pin DQFN package. It’s available with an evaluation board and associated software. Samples are available now.