Engineers Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
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Transcript of Engineers Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
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Welcome to the Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
In the two months before we went to press with this issue on LTE and 4G, there
have been a number of market analyst reports talking about the state of the wire-
less industry. In parallel, several key industry firms - AMD, Intel, Google, Microsoft,
Samsung and others - have released Q3 financials. You’ll find some of that data
woven in this deeply technical issue, but here’s the gist:
them fast enough).
The data I’ve seen shows the world recently passed 1 billion smartphones sold in
-
tors weren’t impressed with - even though in some cases the numbers were stellar
and nothing to be ashamed of.
been replaced by getting your content wherever and whenever you want it. These
of the red-hot mobile market, there’s demand for more bandwidth, more subscribers,
grandma receiving Tweets, and generally looking for ways to meet all kinds of
demand without the TEMS and carriers going bankrupt doing forklift upgrades.
Articles we have for you in this issue relate to all of the aforementioned trends:
discussions of new ways 4G/LTE networks are being architected in hardware and
-
gets to be discussed more often by designers and developers.
And there’s a lot more from our sponsors, with data sheets, event listings, white
engineers, visit:
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The Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013 is published by Extension Media LLC. Extension Media makes no warranty for the use of its products and assumes no responsibility for any errors which may appear in this Catalog nor does it make a commitment to update the information contained herein. Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013 is Copyright ®2012 Extension Media LLC. No information in this Catalog may be reproduced without expressed written permission from Extension Media @ 1786 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107-2343.
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2 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
On the cover:
behind those phones. So dive right into this LTE/4G issue!
Contents“Internet of Things” Needs More Bandwidth, but Promises a Connected Future
by Chris Ciufo, Senior Editor ........................................................................................................................ 4
Critical Testing Areas for Next Generation 4G/LTE Radio Access Networksby Mark LaPedus and Absolute Analysis ..................................................................................................... 8
Cost Effective Power Amplifier Time-Gated Burst Power Measurement using a USB Average/Peak Power Sensor
by Chin Aik Lee, Agilent Technologies, Inc. ................................................................................................10
Mobilizing Data for Profitby Drew Sproul, Adax Inc. ..........................................................................................................................18
Optimize the Cost-Performance of LTE Networking Equipmentby Charlie Ashton, 6WIND ..........................................................................................................................23
Wireless Applications Demand Wired USB 3.0by Eric Huang, Sr. Product Marketing Manager for Semiconductor USB Digital IP, Synopsys, Inc ........... 26
Opinion: Equip Mobile Applications with Anti-Tamper Technologyby Andrew McLennan, Metaforic .............................................................................................................. 32
Products and Services
Components
Test and Measurement
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Software
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Adax LTE EPC on Application Ready Platform ......31
4 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
by Chris Ciufo, Senior Editor
“Internet of Things” Needs More Bandwidth, but Promises a Connected Future
During my recent research into the connected car and in-
vehicle infotainment systems I’ve run across all manner
of mobile data pipes. Those pipes, after all, are how
information will f low to and from the car. It’s a massive
data problem that relies on Wi-Fi (when available) and
cellular networks to keep up with demand, scale out cost
effectively, handle security, and interoperate with myriad
handsets and M2M modems.
I’m no expert in LTE networks, so I went to two companies
that really are expert in these current and next-generation
networks. I tossed a couple of softball questions early on,
then asked the harder questions about security and average
revenue per user (ARPU). The return answers may surprise
you. Read on to find out what our experts said. Edited
excerpts follow.
EECatalog: What effects will the growing M2M trend
have on wireless networks? How will all those “Internet of
Things” nodes be integrated?
ADAX: For carriers this is a tremen-
dous commercial opportunity for
additional revenue. The submission
or exchange of data is minimal, much
like signaling in terms of network
bandwidth usage. It’s similar to the
early use of the SS7 network for SMS
services. That was, and this is major
revenue from existing plant [infra-
structure] with minimal CAPEX/
OPEX investment.
As far as integration of all those
nodes, most of these applications are point to point.
Smart Meters send usage data to the energy provider and
occasional alarms when necessary. Fleet vehicles send GPS
data to their HQs, and security systems send arm/disarm
notifications to a server that sends out an email. Addi-
tionally, there are service brokers such as Kore Telematics
emerging that mediate the network interface, perform
authentication and security for the end point data.
Emerson: By many accounts, M2M
will have a large impact on the overall
traffic profile in the future since the
number of “things” will surpass the
number of human users. One of the
issues for the networks therefore is to
successfully manage traffic to priori-
tize a user’s quality of experience over
background M2M communication.
EECatalog: The cost of forklift
upgrades is high. What are opera-
tors and their technology partners
doing to increase capacity while maintaining costs?
ADAX: eNodeBs [Evolved Node B; the hardware communi-
cating directly with LTE cellular handsets] are scaling up
to support thousands of users, theoretically all at LTE/4G
speeds. This capacity plus the inherent intelligence in the
software and computing power of the devices allows net-
work operations to share in the CAPEX of new equipment,
thus lowering their overall costs.
Emerson: Operators should be looking to equipment based
on upgradeable and future-proof technologies such as
AdvancedTCA (ATCA) to be able to take advantage of the
core technology evolution, especially in areas such as Deep
Packet Inspection that gets used to identify and optimize
communication flows across a necessarily limited network.
EECatalog: Some people have called “The Connected Car” the
next great embedded platform. Yet to make it useful requires
connectivity to the cloud, probably via Wi-Fi or cellular.
What’s your vision and observation of this emerging trend?
ADAX: It really depends on how ‘The Connected Car’ is
defined. If it means control of a moving vehicle then that’s
clearly not yet ready for primetime. If it means infotain-
ment, real-time traffic and navigation assistance then
most certainly this is a trend on the rise. The question
of connectivity will be solved by macro-wireless network
coverage for phones. The question of billing will be the one
that needs sorting out.
Andrew (Drew) Sproul is currently Director of Marketing at Adax, Inc.
Brian Carr, Strategic Marketing Manager, Embedded Computing, Emerson Network Power.
6 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
Comcast is advertising XFINITY Wi-Fi to automatically
connect to available hot spots with a smart phone or tablet.
Comcast and Verizon are already in a partnership for home
mobile services in conjunction with cable-supplied voice
[services]. It’s only one more step to use the intelligent
device (resembling a tablet) that’s integrated into your car.
Emerson: This is simply another extension of M2M, but
adding and combining with human communications.
EECatalog: Please comment on the market and growth for
cellular and high bandwidth wireless networks.
ADAX: This is a very broad question that’s better addressed by
comprehensive marketing reports. At the high level, LTE is in
a very uneven stage of adoption. US and Japanese networks
are leading the way. WiMAX is prevalent in many other parts
of the world including Africa and APAC excluding Japan and
Korea. We can expect bandwidth increases across all available
technologies as personal and networked economy demand
grows. Wi-Fi is of particular interest as until very recently
it was dismissed as a viable network access technology. Now
that market is exploding and everyone is scrambling to inte-
grate Wi-Fi into the macro network.
Emerson: There is no shortage of demand for data capacity
to be delivered to users, and mobile networks are where
most of the focus is. According to the 2012 Cisco Visual
Networking Index, mobile data traffic is expected to grow
annually at a CAGR of 78% through to 2016. But investment
in network capacity needs to make a return, so operator
focus is on network and content optimization based on
the latest packet processing platforms to better monetize
existing and future investments.
EECatalog: Carriers are desperate to increase ARPU. What
services and technologies do you predict might appear in
the next 12-24 months?
ADAX: Personalized and dynamic Service Level Agreements
based on a new generation of Policy Servers and Subscriber
databases relying on sophisticated uses of DPI [deep packet
inspection] and policy enforcement will allow network pro-
viders to tap newfound revenue streams based on personal
preferences that the network profiles and acts on. Think
real-time upselling to an HD enhanced bandwidth stream
of yesterday’s Giant’s game. Would I pay $5 or $10 or even
$25 dollars to watch that live on my tablet? Absolutely.
Emerson: We can foresee a number of initiatives that will be
tried over the next several years to improve ARPU. One will
be to offer a tiered quality of experience where customers
will pay more to get an improved service. This is particu-
larly relevant with regard to mobile video access, which
will be another potential growth area. For this, and other
improvement services, the latest technology underpinning
this is packet processing based on AdvancedTCA hardware.
EECatalog: Please address “security” as a general topic as
it pertains to wireless networks.
ADAX: In the early days of wireless, fraud detection and
prevention were of paramount concern as the source of
massive revenue loss to the NSPs. Secure access and use
of the wireless networks is pretty well locked down today.
However the proliferation of new IP, web-based services
opens up a whole new realm of security risks that must be
addressed. IPsec is being implemented in the handsets as
an added measure to existing user security. These tunnels
within the existing network protections should protect
end-to-end transactions. I am not up on over the air inter-
ception techniques so I can’t comment on them.
An emerging point of vulnerability is access to the public
internet from wireless devices. In LTE the PGW is designed
to manage access to trusted and untrusted networks. Simply
acknowledging that untrusted networks [exist] defines
the problem. PGWs will need to rely in either external or
integrated security gateways. Similarly MDOs (Mobile Data
Offload) devices will need to incorporate security gateways
in order to safely send and receive data on behalf of the
eNodeB from potentially untrusted sources.
That leaves the end point or data at rest as the most vulner-
able link in the chain. And indeed this is where we have seen
the most frequent breaches on the most massive scale where
thousands or even millions of users have had their private
information compromised. This is basically an IT/Cloud
security issue that is being addressed now by humongous
VM security gateways front-ending data storage servers.
Emerson: Security is clearly an important issue. We are all
aware of security issues in wireline networks, but not yet
in wireless access where a lot of personally sensitive data
is available on mobile handsets. We can expect more use to
be made of authentication and encryption as a first line of
defense. As evidence of this trend, Emerson is integrating
into its ATCA platforms a new communications focused
chipset from Intel that provides hardware acceleration for
mobile encryption standards and for RSA key exchanges.
EECatalog: What are the top 3 open standards you’re fol-
lowing in wireless?
ADAX: There are 3 areas we are following closely: Security,
GTP and Policy
1. 3GPP TS 33.210 for Security gateways in LTE and legacy
networks
2. 3GPP 29.060.274/281 for GTP-U
3. 3GPP 23.203 and 29.207/209/212 for Policy Control
and Charging
www.eecatalog.com/4G 7
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
Emerson: As Emerson, we concentrate on enabling network
equipment providers to take advantage of the latest technology
to build and deploy all sorts of network elements. In this
endeavor, we focus on an open standard called AdvancedTCA.
ATCA for short defines hardware practices that can be used
to create carrier grade communications processing plat-
forms using commercial off-the-shelf boards and enclosures,
speeding time to market for innovative new applications such
as policy enforcement and content optimization.
EECatalog: What technology are you most excited about
for the future? How does it relate to wireless networks?
ADAX: The notion of freeway traffic management through
a network of connected, intelligent computer-driven cars
is intriguing. It is fraught with obstacles to overcome but
the thought of traveling between San Jose and Oakland
relatively stress free from freeway entrance to freeway
exit is very appealing.
The GPS technology is there to identify the best freeway
exit to take. Traffic advisories could also be incorporated
real-time and given as options to the ‘driver’. Lane changes
would be restricted to an as needed only basis with dis-
tances between cars calculated by on-board sensor and
speeds set accordingly to ensure a steady f low of traffic.
Universal implementation would require every vehicle to be
intelligent in this manner, but even before that incremental
steps could be taken. Such as individual cars set to control
speed and distances between cars with lane changes prohib-
ited. Just like cruise control the driver could override the
program instantly at any time to change lanes or exit.
I don’t think intelligence and control embedded in the roads
themselves is the way to go. For information yes, but not
control. It adds another element of complexity to an already
difficult problem. Intelligent devices in the cars with driver
override options is optimal in both the short and long run.
Emerson: We are excited about the advent of 40G
AdvancedTCA since this will underpin many of the new
scalable packet processing applications that will help mon-
etize the mobile network through to 2017. This is now a
reality and innovative companies are using this technology
in active development programs today. We are looking for-
ward to increasing this speed to 100G over the next 3 – 4
years to support the generation beyond that.
Chris A. Ciufo is senior editor for embedded content
at Extension Media, which includes the EECatalog
print and digital publications and website, Embed-
ded Intel® Solutions, and other related blogs and
embedded channels. He has 29 years of embedded
technology experience. He has degrees in electrical
engineering, and in materials science, emphasizing solid state phys-
ics. He can be reached at [email protected].
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8 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
Advertorial
by Mark LaPedus and Absolute Analysis
Critical Testing Areas for Next Generation 4G/LTE Radio Access Networks4G networks set to take off
The next-generation, 4G wireless standard known as long term
evolution (LTE) is projected to see meteoric growth, but there are
several challenges to deploy the networking technology.
In just one part of the critical 4G LTE equation, for example,
carriers must ensure the interoperability, performance and reli-
ability in the radio access network (RAN). In one possible RAN
topology, thebase stations are situated in a remote and central
location, which can be miles away from theremote radio head
at the cell tower. In 2G and 3G cellular networks, however, the
base stations and radio head are typically located near each other,
making the network easier to test and debug.
“In 2G, that was really easy
when the radio head was next
to the basestation,” said Roger
Paje, director of marketing for
Absolute Analysis Inc., a New-
bury Park, Calif.-based supplier
of protocol analyzers and other
test equipment. “Now, what
they are doing is taking the
basestations and grouping them
into one centralized location
called a ‘basestation hotel.’ Now,
the basestations exist maybe 40
to 60 kilometers away from the
tower. This has created a whole
host of timing and other issues
that make the network hard to
debug.”
Carriers and TEMs may end up
spending weeks, if not months, debugging the equipment in the
RAN for 4G LTE networks. The complexity of the RAN, coupled
with time-to-market pressures, are fueling the need for a new
class of mobile access network test solutions.
In fact, amid the deployment of 4G LTE networks, Absolute Anal-
ysis itself is seeing a sudden and strong demand for Investigator,
a new network test product geared for 4G/LTE RAN commu-
nication protocols. In mobile networks, Investigator supports
the protocols as defined by the Common Public Radio Interface
(CPRI) and Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI).
“Cost and bandwidth make this tool a requirement in 4G/LTE
applications on the radio access network,” said Paje, who has
been involved in the high speed analysis industry for more than
20 years. His current focus is in telecom radio access network
testing and validation.
4G/LTE Takes OffIndeed, the market is taking off for equipment, chips and other
products in the 4G/LTE era. The shift towards data-intensive appli-
cations like video streaming, multiplayer gaming and others are
driving the need for 4G/LTE. With speeds of up to 100-megabits-
per-second and latencies in the tens of milliseconds, 4G LTE is
theoretically up to 10 times faster on average than 3G, according to
IHS iSuppli, a market research firm.
In total, the worldwide 4G LTE subscriber base is forecast to
reach 73.3 million in 2012, up 334% from 16.9 million in 2011,
according to iSuppli. The 4G LTE subscriber base is expected to
reach 205.7 million in 2013, up 181%, according to the firm.
Spending on 4G infrastructure equipment is up 132% this year
to $8.6 billion, iSuppli added.
The explosion of 4G LTE is also causing a sea of change in the
network. In 2G, the antenna is situated on the cell tower. The base
station and radio head are typically at the bottom of the tower.
Then, in 3G, some carriers moved the radio head on the tower. To
test and debug the network, the network operator would climb up
the tower to read the RF signal, an expensive proposition at best.
When this type of network topology started moving towards 4G/
LTE, operators took another approach to the problem. The carrier
could read the digital RF signal at the bottom of the tower using
Absolute Analysis’ Investigator protocol analyzer. “There is a big cost
savings,” Paje said. “We have the only box in the world that can read
that CPRI data, decode the RF signal and the RRU/BBU commands,
and record that trace data around error events on the network.”
The shift towards 4G/LTE adds more complexity to the network.
In this topology, carriers are assembling the base stations into a
centralized location called “basestation hotels,” which are often
40 to 60 kilometers or more away from the actual radio head.
“Some people call this a cloud RAN or a cloud radio access network
(C-RAN). The baseband hotel is actually a cloud,” he said.
Figure 1 - Separation of the RRH and the BBU has increased the complexity of testing and debug-ging the RAN
www.eecatalog.com/4G 9
Advertorial
The RAN, or C-RAN, must also meet the bandwidth and quality-
of-service (QoS) requirements. One method to achieve this is
using a technique called baseband pooling. “What they want
to do is if one tower gets overloaded, they want to be able to
use the bandwidth of multiple basestations that are located in
this central hotel. So, in effect, they can allocate bandwidth to
whatever tower needs it,” he said.
The move to 4G will also involve the deployment of heterogeneous
networking architectures. This involves a combination of macro and
micro basestations, coupled with low-powered small cells. These
devices, sometimes called metro cells, could be mounted on mall
structures and subway stations to provide augmented coverage for
consumers when they access their smartphones or tablets.
Five Areas of TestTo ensure the successful deployment of the RAN, Absolute
Analysis said there are five key elements in the test arena: com-
pliance, inoperability, basestationto radio head communication,
RF modulation, and long-haul fiber performance.“We call them
the five areas of testing,” Paje said. “Having the tools to pinpoint
the problems in each of these areas is the trick.”
The first step in the test and debugging process is compliance. In
one scenario, for example, a carrier may have a base station and
radio head from separate equipment vendors, both of which claim
to be CPRI-compliant. “But what happens, probably more than
70% of the time, is that the interpretation that one vendor did on
the CPRI spec is a little bit different than the interpretation done
by the other vendor,” he said.
A related “area of test” is interoperability among vendor equip-
ment. The big question is if a system sends a particular command,
does the other device recognize it? And does the device send back
the proper response?
Adding to the problem are possible issues in the basestation to
radio head communications process. In this critical area, Paje said:
“In a 4G LTE network, the base station will send a command to
the radio head, something like: ‘Can you adjust your modulation?’
The radio head should simply adjust its modulation to some value
that the base station recommends. Sometimes, you get into a situ-
ation where the radio head will keep adjusting until it is completely
uncalibrated. The network operator needs to see if the commands
coming out of the base station were correct. But if commands were
correct, maybe the radio head is misinterpreting them.”
Another critical “area of test” is RF modulation. And not to be
outdone, performance testing must also be done on the long-
haul network.
The Proper Tools are Key to a SolutionEnter Absolute Analysis. To solve the multitude of problems in 4G
LTE networks, the company has developed the Investigator. The
multi-speed, a multi-technology system performs protocol analysis,
bit-error-rate testing, compliance testing and other functions. With
a 4Gb buffer size and a maximum of 32 ports, the protocol analyzer
validates digital RF links, whether they are CPRI, OBSAI, or Ethernet.
The system accelerates the ability to deploy a RAN. The portable
unit monitors conversations in the network and pinpoints the
failures. “The typical application for Investigator is the lab or the
field. For example, a carrier has a base station and a radio head.
They need to make sure the base station and radio head will
operate before they go out into the field,” he said.
The Number One Problem in Testing a RANNeedless to say, the task of developing and deploying a RAN
is daunting. The number one problem is locating where the
problem exists in the RAN, a frustrating process that could
waste valuable time.
Not knowing where the problem exists causes two major issues
in RAN deployment. When a problem arises, design teams start
pointing their fingers at each other. It’s the classic hardware engi-
neer versus software engineer scenario. Hardware integration
teams need the proper evidence in order to decide which design
team can fix the problem.
“The only way to do that is to monitor the serial link in the network
with a tool like ours,” he said. “You plug our box into a link and see
what the conversation looks like. We can monitor the conversa-
tion and then help device vendors debug the communications and
make sure they can interoperate with each other. Its biggest value
is to provide the information as to where the problem lies, which
reduces debug time significantly.”
With Investigator, the company is at the right place at the right
time. “I’d say the industry is in the middle of 4G LTE deploy-
ment,” he added. “There is simply a need for our tool in 4G/LTE
RAN deployment.”
You can find more information about Absolute Analysis at
www.AbsoluteAnalysis.com.
Figure 2 - Example of a Cloud RAN or C-RAN
CONTACT INFORMATION
Absolute Analysis2393 Teller Road #109.Newbury Park, CA 91320USA(805)376-6048 Toll [email protected]://www.absoluteanalysis.com/index.php
10 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
by Chin Aik Lee, Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Cost Effective Power Amplifier Time-Gated Burst Power Measurement using a USB Average/Peak Power Sensorwhen measuring pulse, burst or modulated wireless signals.
IntroductionMeasuring pulse, burst, or modulated signals for wire-
less technology such as TDMA, GSM, WLAN, WiMAX,
and LTE is very important. High-performance, average,
and peak power meters and power sensors are typically
required for measuring the average power and crest factor
(peak-to-average ratio) of modulated signals throughout
various research and development stages, along with the
manufacturing verification process. To measure average
power of a time-gated pulse or burst signals (in a specific
timeframe), you do not need high-performance power
meters and power sensors or even a spectrum analyzer.
A USB average/peak power sensor is a low-cost solution
for measuring average, peak or peak-to-average power
of burst signals. This article explains the methodology
of measuring the time-gated burst signal of the GSM
timeslot and waveform, or time-gated CCDF by using a
USB average/peak power sensor.
Various Signal WaveformsThere are many ways to analyze a modulated signal.
Power-versus-time measurement is a very useful method
for examining power level changes due to pulsed or burst
carriers (Figure 1).
Average, pulse, and peak envelope power measurements
provide different types of information about the signal
(Figure 2). Average power (often simply called power)
measures power that is delivered over several cycles. Pulse
power is determined by measuring the average power of
the pulse and then dividing the result by the pulse duty
cycle. This is a mathematical representation of a pulse
power rather than an actual measurement and assumes
constant pulse power.
Pulse-power measurement averages out any aberrations in
the pulse, such as overshoot or ringing. For this reason,
it is called pulse power and not peak power or peak enve-
lope power. To ensure accurate pulse-power readings, the
modulating signal must be a rectangular pulse with a con-
stant duty cycle. Other pulse shapes such as triangular or
Gaussian will cause erroneous results. This technique is
not applicable for digital modulation systems, where the
duty cycle is not constant, and the pulse amplitude and
shape is varying.
Peak envelope power should be used for more accurate
measurements when the pulse becomes non-rectangular
and the pulse-power measurement equations would no
longer be accurate. This technique is most suitable for
modern digital communication systems with variable duty
cycles and pulse widths.
Unlike measuring a pulsed signal that has a pulse repetition
period and a constant duty cycle, burst signal
measurement is considerably more challenging
(Figure 3). Measuring a burst signal with an
unpredictable burst length that lacks a constant
duty cycle requires time-gated functionality
(independent measurement gates). This can be
accomplished with high-performance power
meters and power sensors.
In high-volume power amplifier (PA) module
testing environments, power measurement
accuracy, test-time efficiency, and test system
Figure 1. Power-versus-time measurement graph
12 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
cost are the key factors for investment consideration. Using
high-performance power meters and power sensors incurs
costly investment in equipment setup. In order to reduce
equipment setup costs, PA manufacturers have chosen to
perform time-gated average power measurements of the PA
module and thus increase the throughput during the manu-
facturing process.
Power versus Time: PvTPower versus time measurement is an important conformance
specification. It is defined as the time-averaged power over
the useful period subframe burst (Figure 4). Peak-to-average
power can also be obtained during this period using high per-
formance power meter/sensor. To make accurate and stable
measurements, it is important to be able to capture the desired
complete subframe consistently within the fixed timeframe.
This can be achieved by applying proper time-triggering
mechanisms such as trigger level, holdoff and delay that are
available in a USB average/peak power sensor.
Measuring GSM Timeslot Burst SignalIn this article, we look into the GSM (Global System for Mobile)
burst signal structure. The GSM burst signal consists of eight
timeslots (slots 0 to 7) with 4.613ms frame duration and with
each timeslot being 577μs in duration. The GSM signal can be
transmitted using the same carrier frequency simultaneously,
occupying different timeslots. In other words, each GSM’s
timeslot can be turned on and off for transmission to verify
the functionality of power amplifier module (Figure 5).
Cost Effective Solution Time-Gated Burst Power Measurement – a USB Average/peak Power SensorA USB Average/peak power sensor is a low-cost solution for
average time-gated power measurement of complex modula-
tion signals. It allows the power measurement to be displayed
Figure 2. Average, pulse, and peak envelope signal power provide different information about a signal.
Figure 3. Pulse signal with a constant duty cycle versus burst signal without a constant duty cycle
and Top Stories
Industry Research
Calendar of Events
14 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
on a PC. The compact USB Average/peak power sensor provides
the same functionality and performance as a conventional
average/peak power meter and sensor.
Using a USB Average/peak power sensor to measure the GSM
timeslot (with GSM timeslot 0 on) provides 447μs for gated
duration after having 80μs offset at the rising edge of the signal
and 50μs offset at the falling edge of the signal. This ensures
that the measurement is not affected by the trigger jitter and
settling time of the USB Average/peak power sensor (Figure 6).
Time-Gated Burst Power Measurement:
External Triggering/Internal TriggeringA USB Average/peak power sensor offers two triggering
mechanisms, external and internal triggering, to perform
the average time-gated burst power measurement. Both
triggering mechanisms allow setting the gate offset (rising
edge), gate length (time-gated duration) and configuring
the USB average/peak power sensor in gated mode to per-
form the measurement.
External triggering requires a trigger signal that comes
from other instruments via its built-in TTL-compatible
trigger input. The USB Average/peak power sensor has
a built-in trigger circuitry that controls the timing of a
pulse-signal capture to enable measurement synchroniza-
tion with an external instrument or event. An external
signal greater than 1.9 V applied to the TRIG IN of a USB
Average/peak power sensor will trigger the power sensor
to start capturing the measurement.
As for internal triggering, an adjustable measurement depen-
dent threshold is used to define the trigger point of the signal
being measured. This is especially useful for measuring pulses
that do not occur at fixed intervals. Internal triggering does
not require an external triggering signal to trigger the power
sensor to start capturing the measurement.
Figure 4. Burst signal time-gated measurement
Figure 5. GSM timeslot pattern with timeslot 0 on.
Figure 6. Measuring GSM timeslot 0 with A USB Average/peak power sensor
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16 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
Customer Application of GSM Power Amplifier (PA) Testing in ManufacturingFigure 7 shows the testing of a GSM power amplifier
module at a manufacturing site. The signal generator pro-
duces a constant amplitude CW RF signal with a frequency
sweep from 800MHz to 2GHz (GSM frequency range). The
function generator generates a pulse with a ⅛ duty cycle
into the GSM power amplifier module. The power ampli-
fier module will be switched to GSM mode. The time-gated
average power measurements (on the GSM timeslot) will
be performed at the output of the amplifier module, after
the attenuator, by using a USB Average/peak power sensor.
The USB power sensor is synchronized with the function
generator via an external triggering signal.
Figure 8 shows another real-world example of using a
USB average/peak power sensor with external trigger
capability to measure the average time-gated signal of the
power amplifier module. Event 1 at the signal generator
is used to synchronize or trigger the USB average/peak
power sensor via TRIG IN before starting to capture the
time gated GSM signal (generated by the signal generator).
Figure 9 depicts the test setup when using the USB Average/
peak power sensor with internal trigger to measure the burst
gated signal of a power amplifier module. No triggering signal
is required to trigger the USB Average/peak power sensor.
Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF)A CCDF curve is defined by how much time the waveform
spends at or above a given power level. This is expressed in
dB relative to the average power (Figure 10). A CCDF curve
is a plot of relative power levels versus probability, where
the X-axis represents the dB above the average signal power,
while the Y-axis represents the percent of time the signal
spends at or above the power level specified by the X-axis.
Typically to measure CCDF requires a spectrum analyzer.
A conventional peak power meter/sensor provides a built-
in function of waveform CCDF measurement in graphical
and table format. A waveform CCDF calculates CCDF and
peak-to-average ratio using the entire waveform, including
portions where the data is zero (no signal). This can be
done using a USB Average/peak power sensor.
Time-gated CCDF or Burst CCDF calculates the entire
waveform using only the actual signal instead of the whole
waveform. Gated function of a USB Average/peak power
sensor allocates the gate (marker 1 and 2) on a specific
burst or duration where the signal is computed as a time-
gated CCDF measurement. This is a cost effective solution
using a USB Average/peak power sensor to measure wave-
form CCDF or time-gated CCDF (burst CCDF) of a power
amplifier module.
Figure 7. Setup diagram of GSM power amplifier module testing
Figure 8. Simple setup diagram of time-gated burst power measurement with a USB average/peak power sensor’s external triggering mechanism
www.eecatalog.com/4G 17
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
ConclusionAccurately measuring the aver-age time-gated power of burst signals (within specific time-frames) is important for power amplifier module testing. It can be achieved not only with con-ventional methods using high-performance power meters and power sensors, but also with the cost-effective USB Average/peak power sensor solution. The internal and external trigger-ing mechanisms offered by the USB Average/peak power sen-sor allows measuring the aver-
age time-gated burst signal of GSM, TDMA, WLAN, WiMAX, LTE and others accurately within the desired timeframe. Waveform CCDF and time-gated CCDF (Burst CCDF) can be performed as well using a USB Average/Peak power sensor instead of using conventional high performance peak power
meter/sensor, signal analyzer or other instrument.
Chin Aik Lee, Application Engineer for Power
Meters and Power Sensors, Basic Instruments
Division; Agilent Technologies. Mr. Lee is an ap-
plication engineer for power meter and sensor
products, and works as a technical writer and
provides consultancy and technical training to
the worldwide field operation. Chin Aik joined Agilent in 2000
as a test engineer for the Signal Analysis Division (SAD), and
was named as an application engineer for the Basic Instru-
ments Division (BID) in August 2006. He has worked in new
product introduction projects and has set up new test systems
from development to manufacturing. He is also responsible
for test system infrastructure set-up, system calibration and
verification as well as product firmware evaluation. Chin Aik
holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Electronics Engineering
from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Figure 9. Simple setup for time-gated burst power measurement with A USB Average/peak power sensor’s internal triggering mechanism
Figure 10. CCDF plot shows the Y-axis that represents the percentage of time the signal power equals or exceeds the power specified by the X-axis
Visit EECatalog.com/4G for the latest news, con-tent and opinions from
industry thought leaders!
18 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
by Drew Sproul, Adax Inc.
Mobilizing Data for ProfitDeep packet inspection is the silver bullet for increasing average revenue per mobile user.
According to a report recently published by Gartner, smart-
phone sales in 2011 were up 58 per cent from 2010 (Figure
1). With iPad and tablet sales predicted for similar growth,
the result is a seemingly insatiable demand for data-centric
applications lead by video that is putting incredible stress
on mobile networks. The more powerful the device, the more
data is downloaded. While accessing data using smartphones
easily outnumbers data access using laptops (via dongles),
the laptops consume significantly more data by volume
than smaller mobile devices. There has been an explosion of
mobile data traffic and the stress on the mobile network will
continue to grow unless operators step in.
The initial growth of mobile broadband data drove service
providers to focus on traffic and congestion management.
Policy Servers are the key means to apply more rational
policies when networks became congested, usually by
dividing customers into tiers with different data volume
limits, and devising policies for what happens when limits
were breached. This approach has become widely known as
fair use management and applications such as bill shock
are being added to ensure users understand what and how
much they were being charged for - but it is simply not
enough to just use fair use management and the bill shock
application. The end user and the network both need more
concrete measures in place to protect against an over con-
gestion of the networks and to ensure that end users are not
paying extortionate data rates.
While bandwidth management and control of the pipe are
absolutely necessary, building a bigger, faster “dumb pipe”
alone won’t keep the Network Service Providers (NSPs) in
business. The fact is, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for
data traffic is not increasing at the same rate as the demand
for service - this cannot remain the same for very much
longer. NSPs must find ways to add services, enhance Quality
of Experience (QoE), and provide flexible, dynamic, up-sell
options to monetize the data pipe. Deep Packet Inspection
(DPI) technology is the key to make this change happen.
Value Added Service (VAS) applications are being developed
that will use DPI technology to improve the user experience.
Operators will be able to move away from the “all you can eat”
data plans towards more flexible services and sophisticated
pricing plans, which will benefit the operator and the user.
Figure 1: Mobile Data Explosion by Device Type
www.eecatalog.com/4G 19
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
Adaptation and improvementTo truly innovate, operators need to think beyond cost-cen-
tric measures and adapt current business models to today’s
increasingly data hungry users. Operators must transform
their networks by developing services that reduce incre-
mental network operating costs whilst increasing IP service
revenue. Service operators must also improve the user expe-
rience to avoid customer churn. Operators need to provide
services linked to demand, both in terms of the network and
the individual user. For too long now customer retention has
focused on providing the latest smartphone, tablet or price
bundle rather than the services that are available on these
devices. A report from the CMO Council entitled “The Chal-
lenge of Customer Churn and Market Burn”, says that a two
per cent increase in customer retention has the same effect
on profits as cutting costs by 10 per cent.
In short, building out the data pipe is simply not enough.
Service providers must find ways to monetize the data pipe
(Figure 2). This can only be accomplished once the dumb pipe
has become intelligent. A deterministic packet network is
the only way to effectively manage packet-based traffic. The
operator must know and control its network traffic by type,
user and device. It is not only about improving the speed and
throughput of the network to accommodate the data explo-
sion, but providing the user with new services and control
over their services and costs. Knowledge based on DPI brings
the control necessary to make this happen. An intelligent
data pipe has the ability to manage content, services, billing,
access, as well as Location Based Services for children and
household security. These are new services and control that
operators can offer customers once the intelligence has been
implemented that can only come from DPI.
In addition, packet inspection is used to analyze network
traffic, to discover both the type of application that sent
the data, where it came from and the device the service
is bound for. In order to prioritize traffic, or filter out
unwanted data, DPI can differentiate data, such as video,
music, VoIP, e-mail and Web sessions. The technology can
also be used to delay, or “throttle,” some kinds of con-
tent generated by certain applications. This controls the
delivery of content, improves network security and allows
both the network and theuser enhanced control (Figure 3).
DPI is essential to the 4G/LTE setupIn the 4G/LTE all-IP world, the Mobile Management Entity
(MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), and Packet Data Network
Gateway (PGW) make up the core core elements (Figure 4). The
Policy Control and Resource Function (PCRF) is used for set-
ting Quality of Service (QoS), Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
and usage restrictions that are key to new service and billing
paradigms. Comprehensive and dynamic policy definitions
Figure 2: Managing the Data Pipe for QoE, Billing, and Revenue by Ser-vices and Applications
Figure 3: User Control for QoE is Key!
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22 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
provide better management and monetization of the packet
data pipe (Figure 5). These emerging fee-for-service models
rely on information provided by these network elements as
well as enhanced HSS learning user ID and preferences.
DPI is essential in this new world to smooth billing practices,
improve network security and deliver the option to actively
control packet data pipe sessions through traffic filtering and
redirection. This can help ensure that subscribers are not only
receiving the correct package of services they purchased from
their service provider, but support bill shock and advice of
charge applications which provide the user with peace of mind.
First generation policy servers met the initial challenges of
this increasingly demanding mobile data traffic explosion.
These policy servers protected the network from periodic
overuse and ensured equal access to all users. Next generation
policy servers and the upcoming data offload cousins will need
far greater intelligence to provide customers with services
and control. Service providers must offer these capabilities to
be successful in the future. DPI engines assisted by fast and
efficient IP flow management will meet this need. For both
customers and providers alike, controllable and managed ser-
vices are the key QoE and a profitable business model.
Andrew (Drew) Sproul is currently Director of Mar-
keting at Adax, Inc. During his 20+ year career in
telecoms Drew has held management positions in
Sales and Marketing at Adax, Trillium, and Object-
Stream. Drew has a BA in Human Services from
Western Washington University in Bellingham WA.
Figure 4: LTE: The Flat All-IP Network
Figure 5: Intelligent & Knowledgeable Policy Control for Customer and
www.eecatalog.com/4G 23
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
by Charlie Ashton, 6WIND
Optimize the Cost-Performance of LTE Networking EquipmentTo achieve the necessary wire-speed performance for large numbers of virtual net-works, the underlying software architecture must provide optimized support for key
LTE is commonly viewed as the essential enabler for
meeting ever-increasing user demands for mobile data
bandwidth. Several forecasts, including the Cisco Visual
Networking Index Forecast, (http://www.cisco.com/en/
US/netsol/ns827/networking_solutions_sub_solution.
html) predict mobile broadband growth of 18X over the
next five years. Driven by the tremendous increase in
data-enabled devices such
as smartphones, tablets,
machine-to-machine devices
and netbooks, network band-
width is being consumed at
a pace that service providers
are challenged to sustain. As
the use of video continues to
explode – the same forecast
estimates that by 2016, 71
percent of all mobile data
traffic will be video – and the
move to cloud-based services
accelerates, there is no end in sight to users’ voracious
appetite for data.
To manage all of this traffic, offer new services and more
effectively monetize their networks, service providers are
developing applications that utilize network intelligence
technologies. Support for software-defined networking
(SDN) and deep packet inspection (DPI) technologies pro-
vides more flexible, efficient networking and the ability to
offer more advanced, content-based services, including secu-
rity and bandwidth management applications such as policy
and charging control, quality of service (QoS), subscriber
analytics and traffic optimization. DPI is also a fundamental
technology for services which
require policy-driven, real-
time charging and content
distribution. Critical to the
success of these technologies
is having sufficient computing
resources to execute these DPI
and data-driven applications
without a significant increase
in networking equipment cost
or power consumption.
All of this leads to an inter-
esting question: Are more powerful processors and faster
I/O hardware alone enough to meet these bandwidth and
performance demands?
In a word – no. Hardware alone cannot meet these require-
ments, at least not at a price service operators can afford.
What is also needed is efficient software, and in particular,
packet processing software.
Software – The Key to Cost-Effective, High-Performance NetworksTo achieve the necessary performance levels associated
with the move to 4G/LTE technology, equipment providers
have been moving to software architectures optimized for
packet processing (Figure 1). These architectures take
advantage of the fact that in a typical 4G networking envi-
ronment, over 90 percent of the workload is data-plane
packet processing and forwarding. With this workload pro-
file, performance is limited by the overheads and latencies
inherent in standard operating system networking stacks.
Architectures optimized for packet processing split
the networking stack into two layers. The lower layer,
typically called the fast path, processes the majority of
Are more powerful processors and faster I/O hardware
alone enough to meet these bandwidth and performance
demands? In a word – no.
Figure 1: Typical 4G Workloads are only 10% control plane
24 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
incoming packets on dedicated CPU cores outside the OS
environment and without incurring any of the OS over-
head that degrades performance. Only those rare packets
that require complex processing are forwarded to a Linux
networking stack, which performs the necessary manage-
ment, signaling, and control functions.
The fast path architecture exhibits linear performance
scalability until the platform limits are reached. One
benchmark using the 6WINDGate software from 6WIND
achieved a 10x network capacity improvement versus the
standard operating system stack on an Intel® Xeon® Pro-
cessor E5-2600 Series platform.
Extensions for Cloud ComputingVirtualization support requires that the packet-pro-
cessing software run as part of the virtual appliance or
network, thereby providing its services transparently to
the higher-level applications. Compatibility with standard
hypervisors is also a requirement. Advanced architectures
make use of several techniques to maximize system per-
formance by removing key I/O bottlenecks: virtual NIC
(vNIC) drivers, direct VM-to-VM communication, and I/O
virtualization (IOv). The vNIC driver leverages communi-
cations between VMs via the virtual switch, making the
development and provisioning of systems with multiple
VMs more efficient. For higher system performance, the
VM-to-VM driver allows inter-virtual-machine commu-
nications to bypass the hypervisor’s virtual switch, while
IOv removes the virtual NIC emulation and allows direct
access between the physical NIC and the bottom of the
network stack.
Key to software-defined networks is the ability to
dynamically allocate resources to the ever-shifting
requirements of the network. High-performance packet-
processing architectures utilize a dedicated pool of cores
that can be reconfigured dynamically to run either the
control plane or data plane in line with network param-
eters. Resources can be allocated and de-allocated to
match traffic requirements, providing optimum network
monetization. Advanced architectures use a hybrid
design that enables either the local control plane or SDN
products such as OpenFlow to manage the f low table and
associated virtual routing and forwarding.
DPI performance improvement can be achieved by placing
the DPI flow table within the fast path. By triggering the DPI
engine only in the cases of relevant packets or flows, while
implementing a smarter mechanism for allocating packets
and flows to specific cores, the system-level performance is
maximized while processing the packets with zero loss. Per-
formance can increase up to 7x through this approach. The
overall efficiency of the platform is maximized by ensuring
that only relevant packets are sent to the DPI engine for full
processing and that the DPI engine is bypassed in all other
cases.
The types of packets that are sent to the DPI engine include:
not need DPI processing
packets or ftp packets
Figure 2: 6WINDGate implements an IOv direct connection to the fast path and this add-on to the base package provides support for multiple industry-standard, IOv-enabled network interface cards (NICs) and removes the performance penalty imposed by the virtual switch.
The overall efficiency of the platform is maximized by
ensuring that only relevant packets are sent to the DPI
engine for full processing and that the DPI engine is bypassed
in all other cases.
www.eecatalog.com/4G 25
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
because of the specifics of the application – for example
security applications where the flows have to be analyzed
continually to detect any new URLs that are requested
The Data-Driven FutureA high-performance networking infrastructure is essential to
the success of the mobile network operators’ (MNOs’) move
to the network-as-a-service (NaaS) business model. To achieve
the necessary wire-speed performance for large numbers of
virtual networks, the underlying software architecture must
also provide optimized support for key technologies such as
virtualization, SDN and DPI. The availability of a high-perfor-
mance packet-processing foundation enables this move and is
key to the future success of mobile computing.
Charlie Ashton is VP of marketing and business
development at 6WIND and is responsible for
6WIND’s global marketing initiatives and partner-
ships worldwide with semiconductor companies,
subsystem providers and embedded software com-
panies. Charlie has extensive experience in the
embedded systems industry, with his career including leadership
roles in both engineering and marketing at software, semiconduc-
tor and systems companies. He led the introduction of new products
and the development of new business at Green Hills Software,
Timesys, Motorola (now Freescale), AMCC, AMD and Dell.
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26 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
by Eric Huang, Sr. Product Marketing Manager for Semiconductor USB Digital IP, Synopsys, Inc
Wireless Applications Demand Wired USB 3.0
Emerging WiFi and long-term evolution (LTE) standards
require gigabit per second speeds to address the growing
consumer demand for higher data transfer between their
mobile devices, TVs, Blu-ray players and desktop com-
puters. WiFi and LTE wireless standards are implemented
on systems on chip (SoCs) that are not and will not be
fully integrated into a larger SoC. WiFi and LTE chips
require complex RF and analog technology that must be
carefully laid out separately from the CPU or mobile appli-
cations processor. To connect the wireless SoC to the main
SoC, CPU, PC chipset, or mobile applications processor,
designers use either USB or PCI Express (PCIe). While not
visible on the outside of a product, some PCs use PCIe, but
most PCs, tablets and smart phones use USB to connect
the wireless chip to the main SoC.
Designers implementing WiFi and LTE SoCs are switching
from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 because USB 2.0 effective through-
puts are only about 0.350 gigabits per second (Gbps), and
USB 2.0 consumes more power per megabyte than USB 3.0.
Today’s USB 2.0 runs at a maximum effective throughput
of 0.32 to 0.35 Gbps, much less than the theoretical speed
of 0.48 Gbps because of latencies in the PC’s hardware,
operating system, drivers, or the PC peripheral ’s hard-
ware, OS, or firmware. For example, a USB 2.0 f lash drive
made with slow NAND flash memory will never achieve
even 0.32 Gbps if the f lash can only be read at 0.17 Gbps.
This is a hardware limitation on the USB 2.0 speed.
This article describes three important forces that are
driving designers to incorporate USB 3.0 into WiFi and
LTE products that are scheduled to hit the market in 2014
and 2015:
1. WiFi and LTE speeds will exceed 1 Gbps, which is at least 3
to 5 times faster than USB 2.0 speeds
2. Consumer products will demand faster data access from
peripheral devices and in-home clouds
3. USB 3.0 enables lower power consumption than standard
USB 2.0 PHYs by using an M-PHY with SuperSpeed Inter-
chip (SSIC)
WiFi Reaching Super SpeedsThe need to keep up with increasing WiFi/LTE speeds is the
first driver of USB 3.0 into WiFi and LTE products is. The
current generation of WiFi is the fourth generation, called
WiFi-N (Table 1). With a single antenna, WiFi-N runs up
to 0.15 Gbps, and with multiple-in multiple-out antennas,
WiFi-N runs even faster. Two antennas for receive and two
for transmit, commonly called 2x2, offer twice the speed,
or 0.30 Gbps. A small number of companies make products
with 3x3 antennas which enable speeds up to 0.45 Gbps.
This is much faster than the USB 2.0’s effective throughput
of 0.35 Gbps. In this case, the 3x3 chip must implement
USB 3.0 to take full advantage of the WiFi throughput.
WiFi Super-Charged with WiFi-ACCurrently, the number of WiFi-N 3x3 products is small.
Greater leaps in speed are being made in the fifth genera-
tion of WiFi, called WiFi-AC. While the AC standard has
not yet been finalized, manufacturers are already shipping
products that support the draft of the
AC standard, or “draft-AC.” NetGear and
Buffalo shipped the first draft WiFi-AC
products, based on Broadcom’s 802.11ac
chipset, in early 2012. In fact, NetGear
demonstrated a commercially available
draft WiFi-AC Residential Gateway with
a 1.2 Gbps download speed. Marvell also
announced availability of its own WiFi-
AC chipset in May 2012.
WiFi-AC products will operate at 1 Gbps
or higher, of which USB 2.0 can only
support 0.35 Gbps. The AC products are
backward compatible so they work with
all existing WiFi products, but products Table 1: Comparison of throughput speeds for current and coming standard deployments
www.eecatalog.com/4G 27
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
with USB 3.0 will be able to take advantage of the full
WiFi-AC product speeds (Figure 1).
LTE Advanced Super Charges LTE LTE Advanced (LTE-A) modems will also begin shipping
in 2014 or earlier. LTE-A will deliver data at over 0.50
Gbps, allowing mobile users to synchronize data, music,
pictures, videos stored in the internet cloud. A big initial
market for LTE-A modems will be USB 3.0 dongles. The
dongle is widely used worldwide because it is easy to
deliver to customers, easy to set up and is easy to switch
from one USB 3.0-ready PC to another.
Access to Personal, In-Home CloudThe second driver of USB 3.0 into WiFi and LTE products
is consumer demand for faster data access from peripheral
devices. For example, WiFi-AC routers that create WiFi
networks will soon have one or more USB 3.0 host ports.
This will allow users to connect USB 3.0 hard drives to the
network, as shown in Figure 2.
With USB 3.0 hard drives hooked up to a network, con-
sumers can create their own in-home Internet cloud for
storage. Consumers can store all their photos, videos,
music and other data in their USB 3.0 hard drives and
access them wirelessly. All users in the home can access
the same data, without a full server or PC. The f lexibility
of multiple ports allows users to add storage as their
needs grow; for example, today a user could connect a 3
terabyte (TB) hard drive and a year later add a 4 TB hard
drive. Using WiFi-AC will allow data transfers at gigabit
per second speeds between a laptop and personal cloud.
USB 3.0 for Wireless Connectivity on PCsSome laptop users will purchase a USB 3.0 dongle with
faster WiFi to eliminate the need for a gigabit Ethernet
cable. These dongles are simply plugged into the laptop’s
USB 3.0 port or attached to a host port in a USB 3.0 docking
station. Even with this simple installation, dongles can
outperform the current option of WiFi mini-PCIe cards
that require the semi-professional installation of opening
up a PC, plugging the card into the mini-PCIe slot, and
connecting the antenna cable.
WiFi-AC for TVs and Set-Top BoxesIn addition to USB dongles for laptops, an ideal market for
WiFi-N 3x3 and WiFi-AC is consumer electronics, smart
phones and tablets.
In consumer electronics, many mid-range and high-end
TVs connect to the Internet using wired Ethernet or
WiFi. WiFi is connected in one of two ways, and usually
via USB. The first kind of WiFi USB connection is inside
the TV and hidden from the consumer. TV manufacturers
use this inside port to connect to a USB card reader. The
card reader is exposed so the consumer can insert an SD
card and view stored photos or videos. Most consumers are
familiar with the second kind of USB connection, which
is the exposed USB port on the outside of the TV that is
used to plug in a USB flash drive, USB web cam, or USB
WiFi dongle. The consumer can plug a USB dongle, like the
3G HSUPA dongle shown in Figure 3, into an external USB
port. Most new TVs now include at least two USB ports,
and often some additional internal ports. One port is used
for connecting to USB storage and the other port is used
for connecting to a USB dongle. High-end TVs will soon
include USB 3.0 ports.
Figure 1: WiFi-AC routers enable download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps
Figure 2: WiFi-AC routers with multiple USB 3.0 ports and drives will allow consumers to create an expandable, in-home, personal cloud
www.eecatalog.com/4G
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28 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
EECatalog SPECIAL FEATURE
To take advantage of the
faster speeds WiFi-AC will
offer, high-end TVs have
already started to migrate
from USB 2.0 and upgrade to
USB 3.0. This upgrade allows
users to stream content
from either a remote home
gateway or a media source
with faster WiFi speed
transfer of data between
sources of video.
In the U.S., set-top boxes currently include digital video recording (DVR) func-
tionality, and video stored in one room can be viewed in an-other room. This flexibility requires a fast WiFi or networking connection to improve the delivery of video between rooms,
especially for high-definition (HD) content.
Reduce power consumption with SSIC and USB 3.0The third driver of USB 3.0 in WiFi and LTE products is the
availability of M-PHYs supporting SSIC. A MIPI M-PHY is
typically used with MIPI protocols and has the advantage
of running at gigabit speeds, but it is smaller in size and
power consumption than a USB 3.0 PHY. USB 3.0 is used
outside the box between a host and device. SuperSpeed
Interchip (SSIC) brings USB from outside the box to inside
the box and on the printed circuit board (PCB). SSIC com-
municates between chips on the PCB, and in this case,
between the WiFi or LTE chip and a main processor chip,
CPU, or mobile application processor.
SSIC reuses existing USB 3.0 protocol and software drivers
and exchanges the USB 3.0 PHY for a smaller, lower power
MIPI M-PHY. While a USB 3.0 PHY sends data across a 3
meter cable, the smaller MIPI M-PHY executes USB 3.0
communication between chips across only a few millime-
ters, and with lower power consumption. Instead of a USB
cable, metal lines on the PCB connect the two chips.
To reduce power consumption, mobile applications (apps)
processors that run smart phones use a USB 3.0 host con-
troller with an SSIC interface. The SSIC pins on the apps
processor connect to the SSIC pins on the USB 3.0 device
controller on an LTE modem. SSIC enables the USB 3.0 data
transfer speed between chips to match the speed of the
wireless protocols (Figure 4). This also reduces power con-
sumption to about one-fifth of the power of USB 3.0. SSIC
lets product makers reuse their existing software drivers
and digital controllers. Drivers can be shared, because the
same USB 3.0 drivers can be reused with SSIC. As a result,
every WiFi chip and every LTE modem chip developed
beginning in 2012 will use SSIC to save power.
ConclusionDesigners working on con-
sumer electronics products
that are scheduled to go to
market in 2014 and 2015
must be cognizant of the
three forces driving USB 3.0
into WiFi and LTE products:
increasing WiFi and LTE
speeds, consumer demand
for faster data access,
and the desire for the
lower power consumption
that USB 3.0/SSIC offers.
Choosing an IP solution
such as Synopsys’ Design-
Ware® USB 3.0 controller and PHY enables SoC designers to
develop high-quality USB 3.0 silicon solutions to meet these
growing market demands with fast time-to-market.
Eric Huang, Senior Product Marketing Manager for
Semiconductor USB Digital IP, Synopsys, Inc.
In his role as senior product marketing manager
for semiconductor USB digital IP at Synopsys, Eric
Huang is responsible for managing USB 3.0 and
USB 2.0 IP. Huang worked on USB at the beginning in 1995 with
the world’s first BIOS that supported USB keyboards and mice
while at Award Software. After a departure into embedded systems
software for real-time operating systems, Huang returned to USB
cores and software at inSilicon, the world’s leading supplier of USB
IP at the time. inSilicon was later acquired by Synopsys in 2002.
Huang served as chairman of the USB On-The-Go Working Group
for the USB Implementers Forum from 2004-2006.
Huang received an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University, an M.S.
in Engineering from University of California Irvine, and a B.S. in
Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is a licensed
professional engineer in civil engineering in the State of California.
Figure 3: Today’s TVs include USB 2.0 ports that can accept WiFi dongles for wireless connectivity. Tomor-row’s TVs will include USB 3.0 ports for faster WiFi or LTE connectivity.
Figure 4: A USB 3.0 Host Controller with SSIC can reduce power con-sumption.
Visit EECatalog.
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Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
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32 Engineers’ Guide to LTE and 4G 2013
VIEWPOINT
by Andrew McLennan, Metaforic
Opinion: Equip Mobile Applications with Anti-Tamper TechnologyApplication providers should build in sufficient security for mobile devices.
Editor’s note: This has been adapted from a longer article of the same name.
During the last 20 years, malware has evolved from occasional
“exploits” to a global multimillion-dollar criminal industry. We
hear about viruses such as Flame and Stuxnet, which can infect
whole country infrastructures with relative ease. For example,
for at least two years, Flame has been copying documents
and recording audio, keystrokes, network traffic and taking
screenshots from infected computers. If it’s that easy to attack
governments and infrastructures, how difficult do you think it
is to hack a smartphone?
Custom Malware Designed for SmartphonesApplication providers need to step up and begin building in
sufficient security for mobile devices, including vulnerability
mitigation, re-evaluation of trust and incorporation of secure
authentication channels.
The need for these techniques is magnified on mobile platforms
and perhaps none more so than on Android. A recent study by AV-
TEST showed that more than 75 percent of anti-malware solutions
ignored at least one in every 10 of the main families of malware in
the wild. Add to this that Android malware is increasing dramati-
cally, quadrupling between 2011 and 2012, and it seems that failing
to protect mobile applications in general, and Android applications
in particular, might be inviting a disaster.
The open source nature of the Android platform means that there
are a plethora of free, widely available and powerful tools that
also make it simple to reverse-engineer unprotected applications
or even elements of the OS itself in order to assess vulnerabili-
ties and create attacks. Add to this the fact that there are a wide
range of largely unpoliced Android marketplaces. Even Google’s
own marketplace and its use of its “Bouncer” malware detection
system is far from infallible, as researchers recently showed.
Mobile Security Critical for BusinessesWith the huge growth of smartphones and the applications that
run on them, mobile security is becoming a critical area for all
businesses: they are an obvious route for threats that seek to
penetrate the back office.
Unfortunately, to date, security in Android has been ineffective.
Hackers create and input malware that can change the behavior
of applications, substitute account numbers, modify amounts,
initiate egregious transactions, capture PINs, and more. Applica-
tions running on remote devices, with unknown configurations,
need to be able to defend themselves, their communication, and
to clearly signal if they have been compromised.
Approaches to Secure Mobile DevicesThere are various means to secure mobile device transactions.
Strong security for mobile devices offers a comprehensive port-
folio of embedded security solutions; the most obvious being
anti-tamper technology to prevent code and data changes. The
principle behind anti-tamper is quite simple: rather than relying
on the security of the environment (by making the assumption
that firewalls and virus checkers are installed, correctly config-
ured and updated) anti-tamper ensures that the application can
defend itself and its own data.
Clearly this approach will become the standard method for
securing applications in the next few years. There are numerous
ways anti-tamper technology can help secure smartphone apps
for financial transactions:
1) Protect the application itself against subversion.
2) Protect application data.
3) Protect data and keys within the application from capture or
extraction by using cryptographic primitives.
4) Prevent “code lifting” to extract individual functionalities.
5) Trigger a response.
6) Repair attacked applications or data.
As malware continues to attack smartphones, financial institutions
must strive to provide the needed security to their applications.
Malware won’t go away and companies need to be more proactive in
securing apps from the inside out using anti-tamper technologies
to produce that added level of security. We all know firewalls alone
aren’t enough.
Andrew McLennan is an experienced entrepreneur
who has founded five start-up companies since
1993, including Metaforic. Andrew has held all the
key management roles in startups including CEO,
CMO, CCO and COO. Andrew has an honors degree
from Strathclyde University in mechanical engi-
neering with aerodynamics.
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