Workshop Background

The number of options, both in a given region as well as worldwide for delivery of wireless mobile services has been increasing over the last several years.  In addition, there is pressure to move from 2G to 3G to 4G and beyond.  This can render existing infrastructure obsolete and result in costly upgrades or wholesale equipment replacement.  

In addition, frequency allocations and spectral requirements worldwide are not totally harmonized requiring costly customized designs of equipment for regional needs.  

One approach is to establish flexible basestation designs capable of being adapted to the local requirements with a minimum of equipment change.  This flexibility can range from simple plug-in/plug-out of key pieces or, in its most ambitious form, dynamic adaptation to the changing requirements.

Significant advances have been made in developing software and baseband systems capable of addressing several of the access format requirements.  However, the realization of RF systems and subsystems with sufficient flexibility to respond to these different requirements remains a very difficult challenge.

Workshop Goal

The goal of this workshop is to: 

• examine and identify the requirements for the kinds of flexibilities in basestations which are of value or attractive,

• determine the demands these place on the RF systems and subsystems, and 

• explore the technologies and solutions which different organizations in the supply chain can identify and propose to respond to these demands. 

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

7:00 PM

Social and Networking 

Reception & Registration

At Kempinski Hotel

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

7:00 AM

Breakfast & Registration
 

8:00 AM

Opening Remarks
 

8:15 AM  

Introductions

Each person will be asked to introduce him/herself and share how they can contribute to this process

REQUIREMENTS AND SYSTEM SOLUTIONS OFFERED

SIEMENS and alcatel Keynotes

OVERVIEW

	Overview of Cellular Networks and network architecture options for possible application of Basestation Reconfigurability
	How might the reconfigurability affect use of more distributed networks or repeaters?
	Which parts of the network would be required to be updated or replaced?  What might be conversion plan look like and over how much time?
	What are the key factors and implications which OEMs wish to ensure the Operators are aware and informed of and sensitive to? Network operations Network overlay vs. new sites Implication on handset capabilities Installation, Maintenance, Repair, Servicing Energy Consumption
	What are the questions they would like to operators to respond to to better appreciate their concerns?
	What are the key challenges to the RF Subsystem suppliers to meet the demands of reconfigurability of basestations?
	What are the various levels of reconfigurability now and in future?
	What kinds of scenarios might be foreseeable for functional requirements on the basestations?  e.g. GSM conversion to UMTS; Cell phone handoff to local WiFi network; Service switchover to WiMAX?
	What are the implications of the OBSAI and CPRI interfaces on reconfigurability?

Reconfigurable Radio Networks and Their Impacts

10:30 AM

NETWORKING BREAK
 

IMPACT OF RECONFIGURABILITY ON 
STANDARD INTERFACES

PANEL

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS and BASESTATION OEMS

12:30 PM

 NETWORKING LUNCH

OPERATORS and CONSOLIDATOR VIEWS

• What might they see as the benefits or drawbacks from use of reconfigurability in basestation networks? 

• What do the operators see as the key parameters and economic drivers to assess in evaluating reconfigurability and its impact on their operations? Maintenance; energy consumption; installation costs; flexibility; future proofing;  etc.

• How do the service providers and consolidators foresee introduction and use of reconfigurability into their networks?

• What do the operators see as a challenge to operate a multi-standard network (neighbour lists, handover parameters, etc.)?

• What are the tradeoffs between OPEX and CAPEX implications in moving to these kinds of systems?

• What might they see as the implications on reconfigurability of moving to more distributed basestation network architectures? 

• Would they be deployed as overlay networks or enhancements to existing basestations?

Present

	O2 Germany
	Orange
	T-Mobile
	Vodafone Global Networks

ANTENNA and Low Noise, Broadband 

Receiver and filter SUBSYSTEM SUPPLIERS
CONT'D)

	What are some Broadband or Tunable Antenna Concepts for covering all or several of the cellular operations frequency bands?
	What electronics should be combined with the antenna?
	What are the major technology hurdles to implementing the radio electronics to be mounted near the antennas rather than in sheltered hotels?
	Can low noise amplifiers which are designed to be combined with the antennas achieve the broad bandwidths required?
	What is the impact of the establishment of the CPRI and OBSAI interfaces?
	Should the power amplifiers be mounted at the masthead or not?  What are the hurdles?
	How can antenna suppliers support Smart antennas and MIMO?
	What are the challenges and expected performances of wideband low noise amplifiers?
	What innovations are taking place for low noise broadband receivers?
	What are the filtering challenges and solutions for low noise receivers?

Base Station Antenna Solutions for Reconfigurable Systems

Jürgen Rumold

Head of Initial Development Group, AEV

Mobile Communication Antennas

Kathrein-Werke

Frequency Agile Superconducting Filters for Wireless Base Stations

Dr. Robert B. Hammond

SVP & CTO

Superconductor Technologies

NETWORKING BREAK

ANTENNA and Low Noise, Broadband 

Receiver and filter SUBSYSTEM SUPPLIERS

CONT'D)

High Performance LNA and Gain Blocks for Base Stations

Ken Golden

Applications Engineer

Mimix Broadband

RF Units for Reconfigurable BTS

Dr. Jun Heo 

Senior Technical Director

KMW

5:00 PM

Adjourn  
 

7:00 PM

Dinner 

Munich Style  

Bus Transportation provided to and from hotel

Thursday, December 14, 2006

7:00 AM

NETWORKING BREAKFAST  
 

POWER AMPLIFIER 

and

TRANSCEIVER SUBSYSTEM SUPPLIERS

• What do power amplifier designers see as the requirements and key challenges?

• What would the PA Suppliers wish for the system OEMs to address, consider and provide to help them better respond to their requirements?

• What might they see as the relative economic implications of designing and providing for the specific RF performance requirements of reconfigurable basestations? 

• What do power amplifier designers see being able to achieve in:

  • Power ranges

  • Bandwidths

  • Efficiency

  • Linearity

  • Reliability

  now and over the next few years?

• How do they see the tradeoffs between these?

• What do they see as the key challenges which the device and materials suppliers should address to help PA Designers meet these above requirements?

• What are current issues in Power Amplifier linearization concepts?

  • How might these approaches be affected by or respond to the desire for  wide bandwidths, high linearity and high efficiency?

  • What are the relative merits of the different linearization techniques  with the latest power semiconductor candidates in LDMOS, GaN and GaAs?

  • How do the different linearization techniques work with the newly emerging power device operational schemes moving from Class A, AB etc to advanced switched mode classes?

• How do the OBSAI and CPRI interface standards affect, if at all, the way PAs for are built for reconfigurable basestations?

• What do superconductivity base approaches offer for the future of reconfigurability?

  • Filtering

  • Frontends

  • Demodulation

  • Transceivers

  • etc.

9:30 AM  

NETWORKING BREAK

POWER AMPLIFIER 

and

TRANSCEIVER SUBSYSTEM SUPPLIERS

(Cont'd)

Wide-band, High PAR and Low EVM: Challenges of Linearizing HSDPA, WiMAX and OFDM Waveforms

Don Devendorf

CTO

TelASIC

Flexibility, Efficiency and Linearity -

The Key issues of Future RF Subsystems

Martin Weckerle

Systems Engineering & Patents

Ubidyne

Flexible Basestations using Cool Technology

Peter Kenington

Senior Consultant

Hypres

 NETWORKING LUNCH

Key Enabling Technologies

	Linearization and efficiency enhancement
	Thermal Management Systems
	Key Semiconductor Device technologies A/D Converters Linearization Chipsets Low noise devices
	Packaging technologies
	Material options
	Testing and diagnostics
	Shielding

ADC Technologies for Reconfigurable Basestations

Brad Brannon

Senior System Applications Engineer

Analog Devices

Architectures for3G Evolution

Jonathan Law 

Market Development Manager

Altera Europe

Transmitter Architectures for Flexible and Cost Efficient Radio Designs

Matthias Feulner 

Business Development Manager

Texas Instruments

Application of Envelope Tracking Power Amplifiers in Reconfigurable Radio Architectures

Gerard Wimpenny

CTO

Nujira

Light weight Passive Thermal Management Solutions for Tower-Top Electronics

Pekka Rintala

District Sales Manager, Nordic Countries

Graftech International

 NETWORKING BREAK

CLOSING PANEL

Co-Host Panel Session, Other Basestation OEMs 
and Operators

The hosts will be asked to recap the extent to which the workshop has addressed their wish lists.

• Have we answered your questions? 

• Do you now have better insight into the tradeoffs and values for the different options? 

• What gaps do you see and what should be done to address these gaps? (Communications and Technology) 

• What can the IWPC do to help move this process forward?

Co-Host, Other Basestation OEMs 
and Operators