CommAgility, a Wireless Telecom Group company, has announced a new reference platform for LTE UEs (mobile devices), enhanced its existing LTE eNodeB (base station) reference platform and released a new graphical LTE Management Tool. The reference platforms provide an integrated, fully tested solution, combining CommAgility processing hardware and 3GPP Rel 10 LTE software to deliver a low-cost starting point that accelerates system development and deployment for 4G/5G researchers, product developers and LTE network engineers. The LTE Management Tool provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface which enables straightforward system evaluation, configuration and monitoring. With the CommAgility roadmap to 5G solutions, systems built with these reference platforms have the ability to progress beyond today’s LTE.

“For customers building LTE solutions, and in particular private and customized networks, the new platforms and LTE Management Tool will help reduce time to market and development costs,” said Edward Young, VP and general manager at CommAgility, “when customers are ready to move on to deployment, CommAgility can provide fully customized hardware and software optimized for their particular LTE application and beyond that to 5G.

Based on the Texas Instruments TCI6638K2K SoC and a Kintex-7 FPGA, the CA-D8A4-RF4 UE reference platform provides a high performance LTE UE with up to 300 Mbps download and the four integrated wideband RF transceiver channels support any frequency between 410 MHz and 6 GHz. Highlighting its flexibility is the ability to alternatively function as an LTE eNodeB with different software and FPGA firmware loads.

The eNodeB platform is based on CommAgility’s CA-K2L-RF2, a high performance ARM/DSP-based processing/RF card which includes two integrated wideband RF transceiver channels. The CA-K2L-RF2 uses the Texas Instruments TCI6630K2L SoC and AFE7503 integrated RF transceiver. Variants with integrated TX power amplifiers are available for almost all LTE bands.

Along with the LTE Management Tool, both reference platforms include CommAgility’s industry-leading LTE PHY and Stack software provided in binary format.

CommAgility will be exhibiting at the International Microwave Symposium (IMS2019) from June 2-7 in Boston, Mass. and will be available to speak in further detail about the new product offerings.