Software defined mobile network targets 3.5-billion people with no mobile coverage
The problem with the hype surrounding drones and balloons is that as with all emerging technology they are not ready to be deployed and the costs have not been quantified. One reason most of the world is not connected is that mobile companies do not currently find it economically feasible. In other words, most people in this category do not have enough disposable income to warrant attention from the mainstream mobile operators or they live in remote areas. Do the same economic principles apply to Facebook and Google and ultimately their advertisers?
Maybe the answer lies more with tried and tested technology, but at a lower cost than has been previously possible. This is essentially what Legba and Nuand are attempting.
The partnership brings together Legba’s open source software for 2.5G networks with Nuand’s software defined radio, based on Lime Microsystems’ fully programmable RF transceiver technology. This combination is designated YateBTS 3.0.
YateBTS is an all-software implementation of a complete 2.5G network. It can be used for network in a box (NIB) applications; large private networks, based on VoIP; public networks, based on an SS7 core; or mixed 2G/4G networks, based on an IMS core.
YateBTS is built from the OpenBTS® L1 PHY, L2 link layer and L3 radio resource manager, with upper L3 and GSM implemented in Yate. This architecture offers many advantages over the original OpenBTS® design, including dramatically improved stability and direct support for the all of the protocols already supported by Yate, including SS7/MAP, SIP/IMS, MGCP, XMPP, H.323, IAX, and ISDN.
Yate (Yet Another Telephony Engine) is a next-generation telephony engine; while currently focused on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and PSTN, it can be easily extended. Voice, video, data and instant messenging can all be unified under Yate’s flexible routing engine. The software is written in C++ and it supports scripting in various programming languages (such as those supported by the currently implemented PHP, Python and Perl libraries) and even any Unix shell.
Nuand’s software defined radio technology builds on proven military implementations of such technology and seeks to bring affordable mobile network access to the 3.5 billion people who currently are without any connectivity.
The USB 3.0 superspeed software defined radio — bladeRF.
The bladeRF board has an entirely programmable FPGA and a large community of developers. It suits both hobbyists and professionals in exploring and experimenting with the multidisciplinary facets of RF communication. The board uses Lime’s field programmable RF transceiver to deliver a simple, high performance and low cost software defined radio board. Basically bladeRF is a high quality, low-cost software defined radio capable of capturing 40 MHz 12-bit full duplex quadrature samples in realtime. The partnership among Legba, Nuand and Lime Microsystems proves traditional mobile networks can be expanded and made more affordable.
“This technology redefines the sales model with close partnership among silicon vendors, ODMs and software developers becoming the new way of building solutions. Our collaboration shows that innovative and cost optimised wireless networks could be implemented to provide mobile coverage to countless communities that the operators don’t consider to be economically viable,” Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of Lime Microsystems.
www.leg.ba
www.nuand.com
www.limemicro.com
https://openbts.org
https://yate.ro/pmwiki
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