ITU Telecom World 2003

October 15, 2003
Harris redefines microwave radio communications

GENEVA -- Harris Corp., a leading global supplier of wireless equipment and services, unveiled an entirely new microwave radio architecture -Truepoint, the first Harris radio with universal applicability. Providing SDH and PDH in a single platform, TRuepoint can meet current and future needs of network operators, including mobile, private network, government, and access service providers. The architecture is currently in field trials with a leading cellular network operator.

The key technological advances of TRuepoint include its ability to migrate from 4Mbps to 180Mbps on one radio, and support all operating frequency bands from 6GHz to 38GHz and network interfaces for E rates, T rates, STM1, OC3, 10baseT, and 100baseT. Internal network multiplexing capabilities support circuit grooming and add/drop multiplexing for improved efficiency and reduced network cost. The mixed network interfaces are valuable for CDMA, GSM and GPRS operators who plan to overlay 3G IP networks. TRuepoint is available in stand-alone and fully protected configurations. For operators, TRuepoint provides the ability to change network interfaces and increase transmission capacity without changing outdoor equipment or indoor chassis.

TRuepoint's outdoor unit is capacity independent, its indoor unit is frequency independent, and the modem can be programmed to match almost any frequency plan with modulation rates up to 256 QAM. Additional key features of TRuepoint include advanced FEC (forward error correction) schemes for bandwidth and system gain optimisation, automatic transmit power control, reverse channel switching, built-in self diagnostics, embedded SNMP (simple network management protocol), dynamic bandwidth allocation, and many additional options.

Howard L. Lance, chairman and CEO, Harris, said: "Clearly, this is a breakthrough development by our microwave communications division. TRuepoint, based on Harris' 50 years of experience with network operators worldwide, represents the most significant development ever undertaken by Harris Microwave, with development costs exceeding US $35 million."

Guy Campbell, president, microwave communications division, Harris, added: "TRuepoint represents the perfect balance between flexibility and cost-effectiveness. It provides our customers with an extremely competitive, multi-service platform that can grow, change, and adapt to meet their network requirements at any stage of development."