Transcoder aids 2.5G/3G deployment

The ComStruct PTMC wireless transcoder from Motorola Computer Group is designed to accelerate the OEM deployment of the latest voice processing technology. Based on industry standard hardware and software modules, Motorola's solution aims to simplify the deployment of 3G wireless media gateways and transcoders that can significantly increase channel capacity and voice quality as well as add new features to nonstandard enclosures that comprise most 2G/2.5G wireless infrastructure. By allowing OEMs and operators to keep much of their existing equipment while benefiting from the latest technology, the ComStruct PTMC wireless transcoder helps operators minimise their capital expenditure and average cost per user and therefore boost profitability.

Designed to deliver up to 300 channels of AMR and over 220 channels of EVRC, the ComStruct PTMC wireless transcoder will help OEMs respond to demand from operators for third generation (UMTS and CDMA) adaptive rate vocoders, while reducing development and deployment costs and retaining proven infrastructure such as redundancy and failover management systems.

It will also provide a software-upgradeable platform for the new selectable mode vocoder (SMV) which, according to the CDMA Development Group, will enable subscribers to enjoy superior quality and service providers to increase system capacity by up to 75% compared with current CDMA vocoders.

The combination of processing power and a truly open architecture also makes this an ideal solution for wireless local loop (WLL)/fixed wireless access (FWA), private mobile radio (PMR), satellite and secure communications applications and digital circuit multiplication equipment (DCME).

"Experience tells us that with many of the current proprietary wireless architectures, an OEM could achieve up to around 2000 channels in a single slot based on our PTMC transcoder.

So, while new vocoders can address the capacity issues in today's wireless networks without sacrificing voice quality, they typically require much more computational power than before.

For example, our latest research indicates that SMV will require about 50% more processing power than AMR, which is already a lot more intensive than current generation vocoders", said Karl Wale, telecom product manager at Motorola Computer Group.

"Since most of today's wireless network is built on proprietary equipment, a 'plug-on' module is the fastest and easiest way for an equipment supplier to deploy new technology and start using it to reduce cost per user.

The industry standard approach that is the foundation of this ComStruct wireless solution allows developers and operators to accelerate real efficiency savings without the huge capital expenditure and disruption involved in replacing entire frames or chassis".

The ComStruct PTMC wireless transcoder is based on Motorola's ComStruct WTRM300 PTMC Type 3 DSP resource module and Fact-Or, the latest generation of the company's powerful Fact software environment for managing distributed hardware resources within a system and setting up, routing and processing calls.

"Wireless OEMs prefer open solutions down to the chip and code level and Fact-Or is the most open framework available that has a developers kit to help enable operators integrate proprietary code or software onto our industry-standard hardware", Wale continued.

The processing power of the WTRM300 comes from six TMS320C6415 DSPs, a powerful MPC8260 for terminating IP and ATM traffic and a TDM capacity of up to 768 simultaneous channels.

All this enables the WTRM300 to handle the high processing demands of the latest voice compression standards such as EVRC, SMV, G.723.1 and wideband or narrowband AMR.

With an extensive range of off board I/O - Utopia II (ATM), RMII (Ethernet/IP) and TDM based interfaces - the WTRM300 is ideal for transcoding between the numerous interfaces and protocols found in today's fixed line and wireless networks.

Fact-Or is a powerful software solution designed to help speed the development of voice processing solutions based on ComStruct telecom resource boards.

Fact-Or provides easy to use call processing functions, an efficient framework and optimised DSP resources helping developers to achieve maximum system performance together with reduced development time and risk.

Fact-Or's open architecture allows developers to innovate and differentiate their final application by changing the DSP algorithms.

Industry standard algorithms, a fully supported developers kit and the ability to add or extend the high level API's allows developers to change and modify call processing resources, even down at the DSP level.

These changes can range from simple modifications to transport protocols, echo cancellers or voice codecs in a standard function to a completely custom resource/algorithm and a new host API to control it.

PCI telecomms mezzanine card or PTMC - designated PICMG 2.15 - increases the capabilities of the popular PMC standard, and includes buses used extensively in the construction of telecomms systems.

"The original PMC standard only defined the PCIbus so I/O from different vendors was often proprietary and incompatible due to the allocation of user defined pins.

The PTMC standard fixes this by defining I/O and ensuring compatibility between vendors, which is driving the open standards market forward.

PTMC modules enable a more efficient and friendly transportation of voice than is possible over PCI alone.

This functionality allows OEMs to design systems targeting third generation wireless with off-the-shelf, modular components, such that their application, rather than the enabling technology, becomes the focus and they can significantly reduce time to market as a result", explained Wale.

The PTMC wireless transcoder is expected to be available in Q2 2002 at a cost of around $12 per port for OEM volumes.