SDR Insider

Smartphone Market by OEM

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:22:27 +0000

Source: BofA, Merrill Lynch From the perspective of unit shipments, last year (trailing twelve months or TTM) shipments of smartphones were 158.9mn, up 6% YoY, a sharp deceleration from the 22% growth in 2008. However we attribute this to the macro weakness. Nokia slightly lost share, down from 40% in 2008 to 39% in 2009e and down [...]

Smartphone and PC Shipment Trends

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:13:45 +0000

Merrill Lynch along with IDC and others:

IDC Smartphone Forecast

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:07:58 +0000

IDC (via Merrill Lynch) published the following estimate:

Android Surges Among Handset Purchasers

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:00:58 +0000

Between September and December 2009, the proportion of future smartphone buyers who planned to purchase an Android-based phone jumped from 6% to 21%.

Alcatel-Lucent introduces new converged radio technology that lets mobile service providers smoothly support any mix of 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE on the same network

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:44:40 +0000

Multi-technology radio module can be introduced in more than 700,000 Alcatel-Lucent based stations already installed worldwide, enabling a gradual shift from GSM to W-CDMA and LTE Paris, February 4, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced the introduction of a new radio module, based on software defined radio (SDR) technology, that gives mobile [...]

mimoOn and Tensilica to Provide Low Power, Small Footprint and Programmable IP Solutions for Mobile Wireless Radios

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:58:31 +0000

DUISBURG, GERMANY– February 10, 2010 -mimoOn, a pioneer in LTE software implementations for programmable radio platforms, and Tensilica® Inc., a leader in programmable and efficient IP cores for advanced mobile wireless SOCs (system-on-chips), today announced a partnership to offer best-in-class LTE solutions for mobile wireless radios based on mimoOn’s mi!MobilePHY™ software and Tensilica’s newly announced [...]

mimoOn demonstrates LTE for pico base stations based on Texas Instruments’ DSPs

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:56:39 +0000

Duisburg, Germany – 9 February, 2010 – mimoOn, a pioneer in LTE software implementation for programmable radio platforms, announced that it will be demonstrating LTE for pico base stations at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next week. mimoOn will showcase its advanced LTE PHY implementation running on TI’s DSPs, February 15-18, 2010, in the [...]

mimoOn & CEVA to demonstrate Single-Core, Real-time LTE UE Platform

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:53:31 +0000

mimoOn, a pioneer in LTE software implementation for programmable radio platforms, and CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA); (LSE: CVA), the leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, today announced a joint demonstration of a complete LTE UE PHY platform at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The demo will exhibit an end-to-end [...]

mimoOn to demonstrate its advanced low-cost LTE Test Mobile for Digital Dividend at Mobile World Congress 2010

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:48:18 +0000

Duisburg, Germany – 4 February, 2010: mimoOn, a pioneer in LTE software implementations for programmable radio platforms, announced it would demonstrate its LTE Test Mobile mi!TestMOBILE™ for the new European Digital Dividend (DD) frequencies at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. The demo can be seen on the mimoOn stand 2B17. The DD spectrum at [...]

Multimode vector radio dismantles barriers to SDR software portability

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:35:36 +0000

My friends at Sigmatix and Octoscope have a nice follow-on EE Times article about Vector SDRs. The original article (mentioning Sandbridge) is here. As an excerpt: To ensure the cost reduction of SDR platforms via economies of scale, software portability across processors must be achieved. The new generation of SDR, called multimode vector radio (MVR), offers that [...]

Army’s New “Smart Radio” May Revolutionize Communications

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:26:31 +0000

Armed with Science reports engineers with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy are working to build a so-called “universal radio” test-bed this year in Fort Monmouth, N.J. They hope to open the gates of “cognitive radio” development to academia, private industry and other Defense Department organizations. The Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) is creating [...]

Tensilica Introduces ConnX Atlas Reference Architecture for LTE

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:08:35 +0000

Multi-Standard Programmable Radio Platform Also Supports Other Standards Including HSPA+ SANTA CLARA, Calif. – February 8, 2010 -Tensilica, Inc. today introduced its ConnX Atlas LTE (Long-Term Evolution) reference platform, a heterogeneous seven-core reference architecture for a complete multi-standard programmable radio for advanced mobile devices. Atlas is designed to support the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) LTE [...]

Tensilica Introduces Second Generation ConnX BaseBand Engine DSP

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:05:34 +0000

Performance Improvements Up to 3x Over ConnX Baseband Engine Introduced in June 2009 SANTA CLARA, Calif. – February 8, 2010 – Tensilica, Inc. today introduced ConnX BBE16, its second generation baseband engine for LTE (long-term evolution) and 4G baseband SOC (system-on-chip) designs. ConnX BBE16’s 16-way MAC (multiply accumulator) architecture is optimized for the most demanding wireless [...]

Octasic Announces Second Generation DSP Core For Cutting-Edge Wireless and Media Gateway Applications

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:57:14 +0000

Octasic provides Opus2 DSP Core Development Environment for evaluation by 3G/4G wireless product designers… MONTREAL, Canada – February 8, 2010 – Octasic Inc., a leading innovator of media processing and wireless solutions, today announced its second generation Opus2 DSP core, a high-performance, ultra-low power, asynchronous DSP architecture optimized for baseband processing and multimedia transcoding. To facilitate [...]

Octasic and Continuous Computing to Demonstrate UMTS Femtocell / Picocell Platform at Mobile World Congress 2010

John Glossner — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:51:01 +0000

Smooth Interworking of Trillium® Software with Vocallo BTS Baseband Processor Helps Accelerate Product Development by Small Cell Equipment Providers MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada and SAN DIEGO – February 8, 2010 – Octasic Inc., a leading innovator of wireless and media processing solutions, and Continuous Computing®, the global provider of hardware and software solutions that address the mobile [...]

Network Performance – or when is a hub better than a switch?

John Glossner — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:02:27 +0000

Today is one of those crazy days where my network can not even seem to sustain a voip call. Frankly this really annoys me so I decided to debug my network. Recently I upgraded my home office to a business class cable modem with 5/22Mbps service. Simultaneously with that (yes, unadvised in any network deployment) [...]

2010 Economic Outlook

John Glossner — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:24:28 +0000

Goldman Sachs predicts:

2G/3G Patent IP Ownership

John Glossner — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:13:51 +0000

Interesting charts on who owns what 2G/3G IP and what they collect in royalties for that IP. The same report states that Apple pays significantly less royalty for the iPhone. It is suspected to be in the 5.5% range.

Spectral Efficiency

John Glossner — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:01:22 +0000

There are no easy or inexpensive solutions to increasing wireless capacity. Like Moore’s Law in semiconductors, Wireless has its own rule of thumb governing the number of bits that can be transmitted over a given amount of wireless spectrum. Mobile phone pioneer Martin Cooper has posited that the number of “conversations” that can be simultaneously [...]

The iHog iPhone

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:56:49 +0000

The average iPhone user consumes 5-7x the monthly bandwidth of an average wireless voice subscriber, and 2x+ the amount of an average 3G/smartphone phone user, or 250 – 350 MB. Despite notable usage differences, 3G pricing plans for smartphones in the US have remained relatively fixed price, in contrast to usage based pricing offerings in [...]

Handset industry recovers from a trough, but who would benefit going forward?

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:41:30 +0000

During its 3Q09 results release, Nokia raised its 2009 global handset shipment forecast from -10% to -7% yoy. Goldman Sachs believes this signals that the worst is over for the global handset market; although this seemed to be widely expected by the market, handsetrelated stocks reacted positively post Nokia results (23% /55% share price appreciation for [...]

The Future of Content Without Walls

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:30:47 +0000

“Even as the landscape evolves, the market for portable electronics is growing unabated,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Always-On Devices and Networks: New Opportunities to Reach Consumers.”

Marketing, Not Ads, Fuels Social Spending Growth

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:26:46 +0000

“In 2010 and beyond, a substantial portion of marketers’ expenses will go toward creating and maintaining a fan page, managing promotions or public relations outreach within a social network, and measuring the impact of a social network presence on brand health and sales,” wrote eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson in the report, “Social Network [...]

German Forces Trust in Thales for Software Defined Radio

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:29:05 +0000

Thales Deutschland has been awarded contracts to develop VHF/UHF radio module and national waveforms SEM and IdZ for the German Software Defined Radio programme, SVFuA. Stuttgart / Pforzheim, 16 December 2009 – SVFuA is the German Software Defined Radio (SDR) programme that will bring next generation radio technology to the Bundeswehr, the German Federal Armed Forces. [...]

Microtune Introduces Breakthrough Receiver Chip Delivering Superior Performance, Cost and Sizeto Worldwide Digital TV Market

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:19:42 +0000

New RF-to-Baseband IC Delivers Uncompromised TV Receiver Performanceat Compelling Price Point New Chip Enables Manufacturers to Deploy a Smaller, Higher-Performance and More Cost-Effective Receiver in Global Designs for the Next Generation of Thinner, Lighter, Multi-Functional TVs PLANO, Texas, Dec 10, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Microtune(R), Inc. (NASDAQ: TUNE) [...]

ONR Awards $9.5M SDR Contract to Raytheon

John Glossner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:15:22 +0000

The award is to Conduct a base study effort in FY 2010 on the development of an open architecture software defined radio system. Further information is available here.

glossner: SDR’10 will be in the Hyatt (same hotel) in DC the first week of December next year. #sdr09

Twitter / glossner — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:36:52 +0000

glossner: SDR'10 will be in the Hyatt (same hotel) in DC the first week of December next year. #sdr09

glossner: http://znl.me/DE4BP John Chapin sporting a hat with the sdr forum’s new name – the wireless innovation forum! #sdr09

Twitter / glossner — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:01:17 +0000

glossner: http://znl.me/DE4BP John Chapin sporting a hat with the sdr forum's new name - the wireless innovation forum! #sdr09

glossner: Tonight I was elected to the Board of Directors of the SDR Forum!

Twitter / glossner — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:54:17 +0000

glossner: Tonight I was elected to the Board of Directors of the SDR Forum!

glossner: Emil Olbrich (NIST) #sdr09 reports highest realized LTE rates will be 8Mbps DL and 4.5Mbps UL for typical users.

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:26:12 +0000

glossner: Emil Olbrich (NIST) #sdr09 reports highest realized LTE rates will be 8Mbps DL and 4.5Mbps UL for typical users.

glossner: Jeff Bier reports #sdr09 Synfora and AutoDSL(?) high level synth tools get results on FPGAs equiv to hand coded RTL at dev time equal to C.

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:06:21 +0000

glossner: Jeff Bier reports #sdr09 Synfora and AutoDSL(?) high level synth tools get results on FPGAs equiv to hand coded RTL at dev time equal to C.

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports Icera was the best performing chipset in testing even against Qualcomm and the other big guys.

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:07:21 +0000

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports Icera was the best performing chipset in testing even against Qualcomm and the other big guys.

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 notes Telstra had 10Mhz of spectrum where Clearwire had 60Mhz of spectrum.

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:56:58 +0000

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 notes Telstra had 10Mhz of spectrum where Clearwire had 60Mhz of spectrum.

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports Clearwire WiMax Portland drive testing achieved >4Mbps (app thruput not PHY). Mimo B was present 90% of time!

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:54:21 +0000

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports Clearwire WiMax Portland drive testing achieved >4Mbps (app thruput not PHY). Mimo B was present 90% of time!

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports drive test in Melburne rush hour hspa+ testing achieved average 5Mbps on Telstra. Wow… US should be so lucky!

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:43:31 +0000

glossner: Thelander #sdr09 reports drive test in Melburne rush hour hspa+ testing achieved average 5Mbps on Telstra. Wow... US should be so lucky!

glossner: Attending the #sdr09 Market Analysts Session. A great lineup of speakers covering both commercial and gov’t markets.

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:29:20 +0000

glossner: Attending the #sdr09 Market Analysts Session. A great lineup of speakers covering both commercial and gov't markets.

glossner: http://znl.me/DWGTC John chapin at #sdr09 at the evening entertainment with the capitalsteps.com. A dozen demos completed a great 1st day!

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:45:42 +0000

glossner: http://znl.me/DWGTC John chapin at #sdr09 at the evening entertainment with the capitalsteps.com. A dozen demos completed a great 1st day!

glossner: At #SDR09 in DC. Note: i’m the general chair of the conference

Twitter / glossner — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:58:49 +0000

glossner: At #SDR09 in DC. Note: i'm the general chair of the conference

Indian startup tips SDR-based TV demodulation

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:04:01 +0000

EE Times reports that Saankhya Labs, a fabless chip startup based here, has announced its Universal TV demodulator IC based on Software Defined Radio (SDR) architecture, and targeted at World TV and PC-TV receiver markets. Built on an ASSP (application specific signal processor) platform, the product named Pruthvi – is made up of programmable DSPs, and [...]

ETSI’s standardization of Reconfigurable Radio Systems gets underway

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:57:32 +0000

ETSI announces its standardization plans for Reconfigurable Radio Systems. PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 02, 2009 – Following the completion of a phase of feasibility studies, standardization of Reconfigurable Radio Systems (RRS) is now getting underway. RRS are seen by many as the most effective response to the ever-growing demand for a great diversity of [...]

Vislink Introduces Kamelyon for Law Enforcement & Public Safety

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:28:17 +0000

VISLINK, plc has significantly advanced the state-of-the-art in Law Enforcement & Public Safety (LE&PS) wireless surveillance with the introduction of its software defined KAMELYON family of digital transmitters and receivers. As a Software Defined Radio (SDR), the field upgradeable KAMELYON is compatible with legacy surveillance technology, emerging digital applications, and future technological advancements. In fact, [...]

The 2009 Venture Capital 100

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:16:20 +0000

The first annual AlwaysOn Venture Capital 100 highlights the one hundred individuals who have backed the most profitable winners in the last four years. To compile the first VC 100 List, our editorial team sourced data from its research partners Morgan Stanley, VentureDeal and the 451 Group on more than 700 active venture capitalists, 1,400 [...]

ZTE SDR Base Station Records over 200,000 Volume Shipment

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:10:18 +0000

SDR Solution Helps Meet 3G Market Demands and Lowers Operator TCO 13 November 2009, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced that itsSoftware Defined Radio (SDR) base stations have recorded a total [...]

Navy to develop next-generation JCREW 3.3 IED detection and electronic warfare technologies

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:07:17 +0000

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., is issuing a broad agency announcement (BAA 10-003) for the JCREW 3.3 science and technology (S&T) program to improve existing JCREW IED detection and electronic warfare system hardware, software, techniques, and technologies. First off, ONR scientists are interested in improved JCREW antennas. [...]

US Leads in Scientific Publications but China is catching up

John Glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:26:20 +0000

From Thomson Reuters: China’s research output has increased dramatically since 1999 while most output increased to upwards of 112,000 papers nations remained fairly stable. During the same period the USA increased by 2008 —with the nation more than doubling its output from 265,000 to 340,000 publications per year, an increase of its output since 2004 alone. [...]

glossner: Enjoyed watching spurs hammer wigan 9-1!

Twitter / glossner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:16:44 +0000

glossner: Enjoyed watching spurs hammer wigan 9-1!

glossner: Dinner tonight at my favorite pizza place on earth – 4 brothers in Mahopac NY

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:39:32 +0000

glossner: Dinner tonight at my favorite pizza place on earth - 4 brothers in Mahopac NY

glossner: Enjoying a new sheraton tonight in mahwah nj

Twitter / glossner — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:40:52 +0000

glossner: Enjoying a new sheraton tonight in mahwah nj

SDR Forum Technical Conference Approaches (Dec 1-4)

John Glossner — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:23:14 +0000

The SDR Forum’s Technical Conference is getting ready to gear up in Washington DC. Held annually, more than 100 papers will be presented along with indepth tutorials, keynotes, and panel discussions. The final program is here. You can register here. Disclaimer – I’m the general Chair of the conference. See you in DC!

Multimode wireless and SDR success lies in software optimization

John Glossner — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:15:42 +0000

I have a nice quote in a Mobile Handset DesignLine article written by Fanny Mlinarsky.