Beceem Counts on Superior Performance to Power WiMAX Networks

Pure-play WiMAX semiconductor company Beceem utilizes innovative technologies to squeeze increased performance out of Mobile WiMAX networks - including 3.5GHz deemed by many suitable only for fixed applications. Interview with Lars Johnsson, VP Marketing & Business Development for Beceem.

Beceem is a well-funded, five year old, fab-less, WiMAX semiconductor company that is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, but with a large design center in Bangalore, India.  Its components are currently used in terminal devices that access South Korea's WiBro network, Sprint's XOHM, Clearwire's CLEAR, WorldMax (Netherlands), and UQ Communication's Mobile WiMAX network (now being trailed in Japan).  Beceem claims to have a "secret sauce" that enables its components to perform better than the competition, especially when the WiMAX terminals/ devices are in motion.  Through innovative mobility technology, they believe they have the capability to create a new global market for mobility applications in the 3.5GHz WiMAX spectrum. 

I recently met with Lars Johnsson, Beceem's VP of Marketing and Business Development, to discuss the company's technology, strategy, and view of Mobile WiMAX networks in different countries. 

Company in Good Financial Shape:  Having raised over $100M from tier 1 VCs (including Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Intel Capital, and DoCoMo Capital), Beceem has sufficient funding and revenue to sustain operations throughout 2009 and expect to become cash flow positive in 2010.  However, the company has cast its lot with the success of Mobile WiMAX.  In that sense, Beceem is one of the few "pure-play" Mobile WiMAX semiconductor companies.

Engineering Excellence:  Beceem's engineering team is split between Bangalore, India (software development) and Santa Clara, CA (system engineering, applications engineering, and field support).  Dr.  Paulraj, a pioneer in MIMO antenna technology and expert in algorithm development, serves as CTO.  The company's expertise is built around a systems approach to channel estimation and its integral combination with link adaptation.  Channel estimation is important to enable the transmission system (in this case wireless) to always operate at peak efficiency.  Link adaptation is the tool that enables instant application of the most useful combinations of prominent wireless broadband techniques used in Mobile WiMAX networks.  Algorithms have been developed to: sustain high speed while in motion (including at 3.5GHz band); to achieve very high spectral density (bits/sec/Hz), which translates into high performance at lower transmitted signal power; and to get excellent performance given a fixed link budget (total power loss from transmitter to receiving entity). 

Checkpoints of Success:  Beceem has already realized some important milestones on its path to profitability.  The company was the first to market with:

- A pre-WiMAX Baseband + RF chipset (MS100) in 2005;

- A WiMAX Forum "wave 1" Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e compliant) chip set -released January 2006 and the first such chip set to be certified by the WiMAX Forum.

- A Wave 2 Mobile WiMAX chipset - released in December 2006 and first to be qualified for use in Sprint's XOHM network in December 2007.  The chipset was part of the first set of Wave 2 WiMAX Forum certified chips in June 2008. 

- The first completely integrated single chip Mobile WiMAX solution-in April 2008.  It was AT4 certified for use in Clearwire's CLEAR network in January 2009.

In addition to the "firsts to market" noted above, the company claims the Mobile WiMAX speed record at 33M bits/sec- in May 2007.  That speed was measured during live field-testing, as user information throughput (above the 802.16e MAC sub-layer), between a Base Station and a USB dongle that was attached to a laptop PC.  Very fast handoffs (between base stations) have also been realized (under 50ms) using Beceem's components embedded into WiMAX terminals on the move.

A full set of Beceem Press Releases, detailing the company's accomplishments can be found here.


WiMAX standards participation:  Over the years, Beceem has actively contributed to the IEEE 802.16 standard efforts as well as to the WiMAX Forum profile definitions.  A Beceem representative co-chairs the WiMAX Forum Certification Group.  More importantly, Beceem has been one of a small set of companies that have participated in all the Mobile WiMAX plug-fests since their inception.  They have actively contributed to the definition of WiMAX interoperability testing and associated test scripts.  Interoperability will be hugely important for Mobile WiMAX, because the Base Station and the (numerous) devices/ terminals will be made by different vendors, using different designs and components.

Flagship Product:  The BCSM250, introduced in April 2008, is the first complete, single chip Mobile WiMAX solution.  The 65nm chip, contains all the baseband (MAC, PHY) functionality as well as the RF front end (normally implemented with discrete analog components).  This fully integrated Air Interface chip can operate at any one of the three approved frequency bands for Mobile WiMAX- 2.3G, 2.5G, or 3.5GHz.  The tri-band capability provides "economy of scale" advantages to Beceem's OEM customers.  They can use the same circuit design to support Mobile WiMAX networks that operate at any one of those bands. 




Beceem BCSM250 chip, operating on Clear WiMAX network


Today, most Mobile WiMAX networks that offer true mobility do so at either 2.3G or 2.5GHz.  Some "Mobile WiMAX" networks offer fixed access at 3.5GHz (but Beceem is aiming to change that by supporting full mobility at that frequency band- more later in this article).

Mobile WiMAX Operator Feedback:  UQ Communications, Clearwire, and WorldMax

1.  The BCSM250 was integrated into a USB dongle and a PC card made by NEC-AT for use in UQ's pre-commercial Mobile WiMAX trial in Japan.  The devices have performed "extremely well" during testing and in the early stages of the trial, according to Lars.

2.  Clearwire has specified Mobile WiMAX performance metrics can now be only met by the BCSM250.  That chip is embedded in a Motorola USB dongle and external CPE (WiMAX modem + VoIP) that has been accessing the CLEAR network in Portland, OR.  Feedback from Clearwire and selected customers has been very positive.  (One CLEAR user posted his terrific user experience on the IEEE ComSoc discussion group, maintained by this author).

3.  Worldmax is using Beceem's technology to deploy a nationwide Mobile WiMAX network in the Netherlands.  The company's Aerea service is currently deployed as a city-wide hot zone in Amsterdam.  What makes the network unique is that it operates with true mobility at 3.5GHz.  Early results have been quite encouraging. 




Sprint dual-mode EVDO/WiMAX USB dongle utilizing Beceem chip


While Worldmax is the first proof point for Mobile WiMAX at 3.5GHz, Beceem hopes to make this happen in many countries where that spectrum is commercially available and at a much lower cost then a 2.3G or 2.5GHz license.  The engineering team has leveraged its expertise in signal processing, smart antenna technologies (e.g.  MIMO and beam forming), and algorithm development to minimize the effects of Doppler shifts (see explanation below).  The result is a new chip technology that can maintain high speed, mobile communications at high frequencies, like 3.5GHz.  Indeed, the BCSM250 chip will be the major driver to bring full mobility to the 3.5 GHz WiMAX market.

Editors Note:  Doppler shifts (or more precisely the Doppler Effect) occur when a wireless device is in motion.  These shifts in frequency and wavelength result from a source moving with respect to the medium, a receiver moving with respect to the medium, or even a moving medium.  As modulated symbols are transmitted, they interfere with one another, creating a phenomenon known as Inter Symbol Interference (ISI).  ISI complicates symbol detection at the receiver, often producing an unacceptably high bit error rate.  The Doppler Effect is more pronounced at higher frequencies- say above 3GHz.  Consequently, there is a perception that 3.5GHz spectrum, widely available outside the U.S., should not be used for Mobile WiMAX.

Forward Reference:  At CTIA next month, Beceem plans to release a new RF chip design that will further progress its full spectrum Mobile WiMAX agenda.  They will also announce a new reference design for the BCSM250 fully integrated, Mobile WiMAX chip.

What Countries are Important for the Mobile WiMAX market in 2009?

While earlier having touted the huge potential of WiMAX in India, Lars now says, "India has great upside (potential for revenue), but it's not essential for Mobile WiMAX to succeed.  It's more important for Mobile WiMAX in Japan (UQ Communications and KDD) to be successful in 2009.  But Clearwire is the most important Mobile WiMAX network for Beceem, because they are the exclusive provider of components for the terminals/ devices that access the CLEAR network.

Conclusion:  Beceem has its eyes completely focused on making Mobile WiMAX a commercial success.  It is offering OEMs top performance, very efficient operation (spectrum and link budget), highly integrated components for terminals and devices.  The ability to be a catalyst in moving operators to deploy 3.5GHz "true" Mobile WiMAX is particularly relevant, because of the global (x-U.S.) availability of that lower cost spectrum.  Beceem thinks they can make mobility work well at 3.5GHz, having learned from their experiences with Mobile WiMAX tests, trials and early deployments at 2.3G and 2.5GHz.

But there is a big risk for Beceem.  The company is operating without a safety net, as they have no products for other broadband wireless markets and no back-up plan.  While they do have long-term plans to include LTE in their product portfolio, the intermediate term prospects all depend on Mobile WiMAX taking off.  Let's all hope it does, and in a big way.





 

Sunday, March 15, 2009 in Equipment  | Permalink |  Comments (5)