Sequans Communications, the leading WiMAX chipmaker, is enabling the second transmitter in its mobile station semiconductor products to boost Mobile WiMAX system performance. As the only WIMAX chipmaker providing two transmitters in its complete mobile device product line, Sequans is able to apply MIMO techniques in the uplink in addition to the downlink.

Through the use of a novel technique called “tile switched diversity”, Sequans can bring the benefits of uplink MIMO to any Mobile WIMAX network, regardless of the base station used. Further gains can be achieved if an uplink MIMO receiver is implemented at the base station.

Benefits of Uplink MIMO

The benefits of uplink MIMO can be applied either to extend the cell coverage or reduce the power consumption and cost of the mobile device.

Extended Cell Coverage Reduces Cost of Infrastructure

With uplink MIMO, the resultant diversity and combining gains can nearly double the cell coverage area and hence reduce network infrastructure costs by up to 50 percent.

Lower Power Consumption Reduces Cost of Devices

Alternatively, uplink MIMO allows the replacement of a single transmitter and its higher output power amplifier with a dual transmitter and two 5 or 6 dB lower output power amplifiers, significantly reducing the total power consumption of the device — a key objective in the manufacture of mobile devices. For example, in fixed gateways and modems, replacement of a single 28 dBm power amplifier with two smaller 23 dBm power amplifiers reduces total power consumption of the device by up to 750 mW, resolving thermal issues, eliminating the need for heat sinks, and therefore lowering the overall cost of the device.

Uplink MIMO is implemented in all of Sequans’ mobile WIMAX solutions, including the SQN1130 baseband mobile station chip, the SQN1140 and SQN1145 mobile station RF chips, the SQN1170 integrated baseband/RF/SDRAM mobile station chip, and the SQN2130 baseband base station chip

Shalini /ITvoir Network