Indian army has inducted the first-ever indigenous chip-based 4G mobile base station, which it procured from Bangalore-based firm Signaltron
Indian Army Inducts Firstever Indigenous Chip-Based 4G Base Station
Indian army has inducted the first-ever indigenous chip-based 4G mobile base station, which it procured from Bangalore-based firm Signaltron through the government e-marketplace portal, a top company official said. Signaltron founder Himanshu Khasnis told PTI that the chip used in the Sahyadri LTE base stations has been developed by Signal chip.
Earlier in 2010, Khasnis and his team founded a fabless semiconductor company Signal chip to make chips for 4G and 5G networks. Signaltron proposed the Sahyadri NIB solution and came out successful in stringent technical trials. Subsequently, Signaltron also won the competitive bid to supply the equipment.
Weighing just 7 kgs, Sahyadri Network In a Box (NIB) systems provide high-quality secure wireless communication for audio, video and data applications,” Khasnis said. Sahyadri NIB is capable of working in both standalone and cellular modes and capable of seamless inter-operation with legacy analogue and IP telephony systems.
Signaltron has supplied 20 units to the army and the deployment of the base stations depends on their strategic requirement, Khasnis said. At present, there is no fabrication facility in India for modern semiconductor chips. Signal chip has designed the chip indigenously and owns the entire technology that the chips deliver.
In a model similar to leading semiconductor companies like Nvidia, Qualcomm, Mediatek etc, Signal chip also gets its chips fabricated through third-party wafer fabs. Indian base station market is expected to be about USD 24 billion by 2029. Khasnis said that the CNPN (Captive Network-Private Network) 4G/5G market worldwide is expected to cross USD 30 billion by 2030, which will enable large possibilities for the local chip-based base stations, thereby providing economies of scale.
