Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert))/4G, the next generation of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard for mobile networks, is already experiencing exceptional support from the global operator community due to its ability to provide true mobile broadband experience with peak data rates of over 100 Mbps, high-speed mobility and reduced latency, thereby supporting a variety of real-time applications.

Many operators are currently deploying LTE and WiMAX base stations in existing 3G locations because it’s a quick, easy and an affordable approach. According to research firm In-Stat, the role of small cell base stations, such as femtocells, picocells and microcells, will have a key role in the deployment of these LTE networks, and the annual Femtocell shipments will reach 31.8 million by 2014 worldwide. It is anticipated that several million metropolitan picocells will be shipped to operators worldwide, by 2014.

In an effort to go hand-in-hand with the industry’s migration to a heterogeneous and scalable infrastructure of small cell base stations and macrocells, Mindspeed Technologies announced that it will be demonstrating next-generation LTE base station advances based on the company’s Transcede system-on-chip (SOC) solution at the International CTIA (News - Alert) Wireless 2011 exhibition to be held from March 22 to March 24 in Orlando.

Mindspeed is a provider of semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure applications. It provides communications convergence processing (CCP) products that include ultra-low-power, multi-core digital signal processor (DSP) system-on-chip (SoC) products for the fixed and mobile (3G/4G/LTE) carrier infrastructure and residential and enterprise service platforms.

Powering next generation Picocell demonstrations, Mindspeed’s Transcede SoC provides 3GPP Release 8-compliant LTE Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 processing with picocell performance. Supporting multiple radio access network (RAN) technologies in a single device, it can provide a very high level of integration.

According to Mindspeed, its Transcede processor is the first fully integrated, commercially available single SoC eNodeB solution. It facilitates original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to leverage the same software architecture and programming model across the entire family of Transcede processors.

In addition, the Transcede processor also enables OEMs to scale designs from femtocells and picocells to microcells and macrocells.

Officials with Mindspeed said in a press release that the company is currently working closely with key enabling technology vendors, in order to enable the delivery of a complete solution to its customers.

Mindspeed’s LTE picocell demonstrations, which will highlight Transcede 4000 processor as well as an LTE picocell transmitting high-definition (HD) video, will be conducted in partnership with Interphase (News - Alert) Corporation, Continuous Computing and Ixia.

The Transcede 4000 system-on-chip, which is being featured in Mindspeed’s LTE picocell demonstrations, features 26 programmable processors in a single device. This includes two ARM (News - Alert) Cortex A9 multi-core symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors, 10 CEVA digital signal processors (DSPs) and 10 DSP accelerators.

Alan Taylor, director of marketing for the communications convergence processing business unit at Mindspeed, said in a statement, “Mindspeed’s Transcede SoC enables a new generation of compact yet scalable base station designs to improve network coverage, service and performance by putting more processing power closer to the subscriber.”

At the the International CTIA Wireless (News - Alert) 2011, Continuous Computing will be hosting a demonstration of its Trillium LTE eNodeB software on an Interphase picocell solution featuring the Transcede 4000 baseband processor while AirWalk Communications will be displaying a Transcede-powered LTE small cell that features wideband multi-standard transceiver technology from Lime Microsystems.