According to a senior company official, the Indian army has deployed its first-ever homegrown chip-based 4G mobile base station. It purchased the device from Bangalore-based Signaltron via the government e-marketplace portal.
According to Himamshu Khasnis, the founder of Signaltron, Signalchip produced the chip utilized in the Sahyadri LTE base stations, as PTI reported.
In order to produce chips for 4G and 5G networks, Mr. Khasnis and his colleagues established the fabless semiconductor business Signalchip earlier in 2010.
“Signaltron has built the entire system indigenously using India’s first chips for 4G and 5G networks developed by Signalchip. This is the first time an Indian system running on an Indian chip for complex communication technology has been inducted into the army. Using indigenous chips gives a high degree of control on the security of the system in its operation,” Mr Khasnis said.
According to him, the Indian Army submitted a bid on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) last year for the provision of a 4G LTE Network in a Box (NIB) system.
“Signaltron successfully completed rigorous technical trials with their Sahyadri NIB solution. Signaltron subsequently emerged victorious in the competitive offer to provide the equipment. Sahyadri Network In a Box (NIB) systems offer high-quality secure wireless connection for audio, video, and data applications, and they weigh only 7 kgs, according to Mr. Khasnis.
According to him, the Sahyadri NIB can operate in both cellular and standalone modes and can seamlessly integrate with older IP and analog phone systems.
Most of the base stations that are in use in India are not domestically produced. Not even the few that are manufactured in India contain the most crucial and vital internal component of contemporary electronic equipment and devices—native chips.
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According to Mr. Khasnis, Signaltron has given the army 20 units, and the base stations’ placement is determined by their strategic needs.
“We have given the army twenty units. When and where to deploy base stations is a decision that the Army makes on its own. They may easily shift locations to suit their needs because they are lightweight and mobile units,” he continued.
India does not yet have a facility for fabricating contemporary semiconductor chips. The chip was designed in-house by Signalchip, which also owns all of the technologies it uses. Similar to well-known semiconductor firms like Nvidia, Qualcomm, Mediatek, and others, Signalchip uses outside wafer fabs to build its chips.
“With the use of indigenous systems, there could be significant savings to forex and also boost GDP. There are sizeable market volumes available in India and worldwide. Modernisation targets of different sectors like defence, railways etc. are excellent opportunities for indigenous solutions,” he said.
According to Mr. Khasnis, the global market for CNPN (Captive Network-Private Network) 4G/5G is anticipated to surpass USD 30 billion by 2030. This would present numerous opportunities for local chip-based base stations, resulting in economies of scale.
