SDR, le eclettiche stazioni base di Vanu

Davvero bella la storia di Vanu Bose, figlio di Amar, il fondatore di Bose Corporation (sì quello delle casse acustiche). Dopo una brillante laurea al MIT (dove ha partecipato al progetto SpectrumWare), Vanu ha creato la sua azienda, Vanu Inc., specializzata in soluzioni SDR per il settore della telefonia. La sua piattaforma AnyWave RAN consente di utilizzare una stazione base cellulare, anzi la radio access network, per operare con modulazioni diverse (GSM, CDMA, iDEN e altro) senza dover modificare l'hardware di un solo transistor. AnyWave può funzionare su scala infrastrutturale oppure in situazioni residenziali, nel nuovo "fattore di forma" delle cosiddette femtocelle.

Nell'articolo che segue l'Economic Times, supplemento finanziario dell'India Times, si augura che AnyWave possa essere dispiegata per la prima volta in India, dove il modello delle infrastrutture condivise è già molto affermato per accelerare la tempistica della copertura cellulare. Grazie al software defined radio operatori diversi potrebbero utilizzare le stesse antenne, anche con modulazioni e sistemi diversi.

Vanu in talks to sell dual tech to telcos
19 Mar, 2008
Joji Thomas Philip, TNN

NEW DELHI: Vanu, the telecoms solutions provider that has caught global attention with its software solutions that allows telcom networks to tune to any frequency (GSM or CDMA) without change of hardware or having to set up different radio transmitters for different technologies, is of view that the first large scale commercial deployment of its solutions will happen in India.
The company on Tuesday also broke new ground in wireless infrastructure solutions by unveiling its multiRAN solution — this unique software platform will enable telcos to share their active infrastructure while enabling each operator to maintain independent management control.
This Anywave MultiRAN allows each operator sharing the system to independently monitor and modify network parameters like a traditional standalone network. Additionally, the individual operator independently controls upgrades to their network without affecting other operators using the same system.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Vanu, is founded by Vanu Bose, son of Amar Bose who set up the audio systems firm Bose. Vanu’s software-defined radio, where software and not hard-wired circuitry is used to control the operation of radio transmitters and receivers has so far seen limited commercial deployments in the US. “We are doing a pilot with the state-owned C-DoT.
We are also in talks with operators here to deploy our software-defined radio. Perhaps, our first large scale deployment will be in India,” the company’s executive vice-president, business development, John Winn, told ET. Several Indian telcos, including BSNL, Tatas, Reliance Communications already offer or are set to launch services on both GSM and CDMA platform in the near future.
With many new telcos being granted licences in India and incumbent operators expanding operations to rural India, Mr Winn sees huge business opportunities here: “So far, Vanu software radio is the only wireless infrastructure solution to enable individual base stations to simultaneously operate GSM, CDMA and beyond.
This will enable new and existing players to accelerate time-to-market for new services while delivering unprecedented capital and operating cost-savings. Carriers can easily and economically add new wireless standards or increase system capacity via remote software downloads,” he said. According to him, if telcos were to combine the software radio solution with the company’s multiRAN offerings, it would lead to over 25% savings in capex and more than 35% savings in their opex.