iBurst meets HSDPA, and doubles the throughput?

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 03 April 2008 12:12

Business IT - Technology

ArrayComm - whose technology underpins the iBurst wireless broadband network - has teamed up with Korean device manufacturer C-motech to produce terminals for mobile networks that it claims will have up to double the throughput - without any changes to the network.

The two companies have announced a integration of ArrayComm's A-MAS multi-antenna signal processing software (formerly called Intellicell) into C-motech's client and data device cards. C-motech will manufacture and distribute the devices "on a global basis." C-motech claims to offer a full line of the third generation mobile terminals including HSDPA, HSUPA, EV-DO, EV-DO rA WIBRO (the Korean version of mobile WiMAX).

ArrayComm claims that its A-MAS software improves network economics and user experiences through gains in coverage, client data rates, and capacity for all wireless communications protocols: in base station, client device, and MIMO architectures. It as been implemented in W-CDMA, HSDPA, WiMAX, PHS, GSM, and HC-SDMA networks. A simulation that claims to show improvements that could be achieved implementing the technology on devices alone (ie with no changes to the network) in a real network can be seen here.

Steve Sifferman, president of ArrayComm, said: "We believe that C-motech and ArrayComm can create a significant opportunity for operators: data devices with up to 2X throughput—without making any changes to the network."

According to an ArrayComm white paper "Current wireless networks employ comparatively blunt instruments for the distribution of radio energy in physical space [creating] vast amounts of waste in the system. Power is distributed where subscribers aren't and self-interference is created that degrades signal quality. An approach using MAS software, in contrast, takes precise control of the space dimension and puts radio energy only where it's really required. MAS software drives an array of two or more antennas on either the client device, the base station, or both, leveraging the principle of coherent combinations of radio waves to create a focus of transmit energy (or receive sensitivity) on the intended recipient (sender) and the absence of energy (sensitivity) on sources of co-channel interference."