OpenAirInterface RF/DSP Hardware

OpenAirInterface systems can be made to run in real-time with real RF signals using existing real-time RF hardware developed at EURECOM (we like to stress that we provide a lot more than simulation and emulation environments!). We can make equipment available to project partners who are agree to our terms, and in general are very pleased to go out of our way to do this. 

The PLATON and CardBus MIMO I cards already host a subset of the OpenAirInterface development. These are RF and real-time data acquisition and DSP systems which are interfaced to PCs with completely reconfigurable PHY and layer 2 protocols, since they both are true software-radios. PLATON and CardBus MIMO I both have 1900 MHz TDD front-ends with 5 MHz channel bandwidth (like UMTS). The main reason for the choice of 1900 MHz TDD is that Eurecom has enjoyed a license for experimental outdoor network deployment at 1907.6 MHz since 2000. It has also recently performed multiuser MIMO measurement campaigns with the same equipment at 1917.6 MHz as part of a research contract with the French operator which owns that channel.

The use of 1907.6 MHz is possible in France since there are only 3 network operators with 3G spectrum, of which currently only two deploy 3G networks. Moreover, aside from a couple of test networks in the north of France, to our knowledge there is no use of TDD spectrum here. All this means that at least we will not bother anybody with our experimentation. It is quite likely that in the near future the 4th UMTS band will be allocated to Free Telecom (www.free.fr) and we'll have to find somewhere else to transmit, unless Free is nice enough to let us use the frequency at a reasonable price (how about €29,99/month?) This fact is one of the motivations for our new developments under the codenames AgileRF and ExpressMIMO. In order to circumvent the problem, we requested some new spectrum from the French regulatory body (ARCEP) and have recently received an allocation for FDD experimentation at 2.6 GHz with 20 MHz channels (precisely at 2650-2670 MHz for the Downlink and 2570-2590 MHz for the Uplink). This will begin as soon as AgileRF and ExpressMIMO are operational, which is likely to be by the end of 2008.

Acquiring Our Equipment

As mentioned above, several partners in the various projects for which this hardware was developed have acquired the equipment for their own internal needs (we make sure that the equipment is not used for profit-making activities through usage agreements) and in some instances have contributed to the source code development. As a general rule, we are quite happy to go out of our way to provide people with experimental equipment, as long as they don't expect too much support from us. Hopefully the OpenAirInterface Forum will help make this a bit task a little bit easier for us. If anybody is willing to pay us for personalised support, we'd be happy to arrange that too ...

Here are some examples of usage agreements, but keep in mind that they are adapted on a case-by-case basis depending on the context of our collaboration.

Currently, we can provide partners with CardBus MIMO I and soon ExpressMIMO and AgileRF. PLATON is no longer in production. The main issue is frequency regulation regarding the use of our equipment. We are not responsible for any illegal use of the equipment.