14 DAY TRIAL // The Belgian company Option has recently completed the first demonstration of live HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) data card calls, reaching an uplink speed of 1.3 Mbps and a downlink speed of 2.7 Mbps. The tests were performed at Nortel's research Campus in Chateaufort, France.
HSUPA, the evolution of HSDPA, enhances uplink data transfer rates up to a theoretical maximum of 5.7 Mbps, from the 384 kbps currently available with HSDPA. Higher performance is achieved through more efficient uplink scheduling in the base station and faster retransmission control. While HSDPA enables users to receive large data files across the "downlink", HSUPA increases the speed at which users can send large data files across the "uplink".
The trials were conducted using a laptop equipped with an Option HSUPA data card based on QUALCOMM Mobile Station Modem MSM7200 chipset and HSDPA/HSUPA network equipment from Nortel. The tests consisted of uploading a 15 MB file onto a server, sending and receiving e-mails with large attachments, demonstrating the simultaneous HSD and HSUPA capabilities and video conference over IP. In addition, the HSUPA and HSDPA calls were also conducted in a car while driving at 50 km/h.
Commercial availability of HSUPA products from Option are planned for the first half of 2007.