Smallest Multi-mode Radio Base Station?

摘要

Just when you thought radio transceivers couldn't get any smaller, along comes 'Picochip' from the firm of the same name who are based in Bath in the UK. It's a next generation femtocell SoC (System on Chip) for two-way multimode speech, data and video radio communication. As an example, the PC3008 Picochip integrates the key components of a 3G (3rd Generation) femtocell into an i.c. package that's just 12mm square. It allows final equipment manufacturers integrate this into a wide variety of products, which use two-way radio for communication between themselves. As well as the device itself, the Picochip system provides a number of complete radio designs to users to make things easy, so maybe we'll be seeing these in amateur handheld transceivers of the future?