Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) today announced new VortiQa L1 baseband software for TDD-LTE on the QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x family of base station system-on-chip (SoC) solutions, enabling OEMs and ODMs to rapidly deliver small cell solutions to the evolving TDD-LTE market.

The worldwide flood of mobile data is requiring OEMs and carriers to dramatically boost network performance while controlling capital expenditure costs, increasing power efficiency and supporting a range of 4G/LTE standards, including TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE. TDD-LTE macro networks have been deployed in Japan and operators are rolling out TDD-LTE in China, India and North America. Many operators are projected to use a combination of TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE to provide more data capacity to their customers.

“Operators are increasingly looking to small cell solutions to complement broader macro cell deployments with enhanced coverage and services, including video streaming using multimedia-broadcast single-frequency network (MBSFN) and Voice over LTE (VoLTE),” said Raja Tabet, software vice president for Freescale’s Digital Networking group. “With the flexibility to support both TDD and FDD, Freescale’s VortiQa L1 baseband software enables operators around the world to deploy systems based on current solutions without losing the ability to adapt to future market and technology requirements. With optimized LTE software and a lower bill of materials, operators can deploy cost-effective and power-efficient small cell solutions on Freescale QorIQ Qonverge processors in volume with lower costs.”

The new Freescale VortiQa software is designed to seamlessly extend to the Freescale QorIQ Qonverge B3421 metrocell platform, which is the most highly integrated metrocell base station SoC in the industry, for enhanced coverage in user-dense environments and throughout large enterprises. It has the flexibility to support multiple bandwidths, including 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz, and can support up to 256 users.

“As we move from coverage buildouts to capacity upgrades through network densification, LTE deployments will become a driving force behind the small cell market, which is expected to grow to nearly $2.5 billion by 2018,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst with Infonetics Research. “As more network operators start to deploy TDD networks, Freescale’s software solution is well poised in the market to support mixed FDD and TDD deployments given its LTE flexibility.”

Available now, the TDD-LTE VortiQa L1 software is 3GPP release 9 compliant and has integrated cell search software. In conjunction with the fully featured LTE L1 software, Freescale has developed a rich ecosystem of partners that produces BOM-optimized hardware designs and fully integrated and tested L2, L3 and management software, which enables rapid deployment in commercial networks.

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) is a global leader in embedded processing solutions, providing industry-leading products that are advancing the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. From microprocessors and microcontrollers to sensors, analog integrated circuits and connectivity – our technologies are the foundation for the innovations that make our world greener, safer, healthier and more connected. Some of our key applications and end-markets include automotive safety, hybrid and all-electric vehicles, next generation wireless infrastructure, smart energy management, portable medical devices, consumer appliances and smart mobile devices. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing and sales operations around the world. www.freescale.com

Freescale, the Freescale logo and VortiQa are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. QorIQ Qonverge is a trademark of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2014 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.