RF DSP Announces White-Box 5G SDR Hardware and Low PHY Split Radio Unit Reference Design
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image source=”external_link” custom_src=”http://rfdsp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/eMIMO-chassis-back2.jpg”][vc_single_image source=”external_link” custom_src=”http://rfdsp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/eMIMO-chassis-front2.jpg”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text](Irvine, CA) February 20, 2019.
RF DSP Inc. today announced a wide-bandwidth high-performance White-Box 5G Hardware platform that is modularized and scalable from 4T4R 5G Small Cells to 5G Massive MIMO with sub 6GHz RF or millimeter wave IF. This innovative White-Box 5G hardware has a 100Gb full mesh backplane and hot-swappable blades including a MIMO RU blade (16T16R per blade) which can be configured with single or dual Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ devices to support up to 10TMACs and 100MHz through 400MHz 5G NR signal bandwidth with contiguous carrier aggregation to over 1GHz using RF DSP’s advanced DSP algorithms. The architecture supports remote programming of the FPGAs over a network and can make use of a wide range of CPU server blades, GPU blades and storage blades to support baseband processing and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) in a single box.
By selecting the type and number of blades, the White-Box 5G Hardware platform can be configured as CU+DU, CU+DU+MEC, or low PHY split O-RAN O-RU. RF DSP will also provide FPGA codes, IP and design services to implement O-RAN open Front Haul interface (with e.g. eCPRI/RoE encapsulation), FFT/IFFT, PRACH filtering, MU-MIMO channel estimation and digital beamforming, MIMO calibration and antenna phase alignment. With a single MIMO RU blade and a single general-purpose computing blade, the system provides a 5G NR small cell that can be configured as a single sector of 16T16R, two sectors of 8T8R, four sectors of 4T4R or other field-configurable MIMO options. With 8 MIMO RU blades and a number of general-purpose computing blades, the system provides a 128T128R massive MIMO 5G macro cell gNB. In all cases, built-in calibration circuits and algorithms support phase alignment of all RF ports that is necessary for enhanced MU-MIMO performance of MIMO. The platform has a built-in GPS and can accept external 1pps and radio frame clock, minimizes end-to-end jitter and phase noise variation among RF ports. It also provides a digital interface to control RF frontend and calibration of MIMO antenna arrays.
In addition to being a White-Box 5G MIMO base station hardware platform, RF DSP developed the system to support general purpose wideband massive MIMO software defined radios, multi-channel RF playback and recording, massive multi-channel data acquisition system, and end-to-end 5G MIMO development, including 16 to 128-channel 5G signal generator and analyzer, and MIMO RF channel emulator to support 5G NR BS and UE conformance testing, and the world’s only 64×16 MU-MIMO RF channel emulator supporting 5G MIMO base station development, testing and optimization.
The current platform uses industry-standard ATCA chassis with an 100Gb full-mesh backplane that offers many technical advantages for system development and testing that can be made available now, including a wide selection of computing blades and storage blades. RF DSP supports the customization of the hardware platform to other form factors for field deployment.
“Our wide-bandwidth high-performance White-Box 5G Hardware platform supports the vision of white-box hardware and decoupling of CU and DU of the operator-led O-RAN Alliance, said Dr. Ping Liang, CEO of RF DSP Inc. “We will work with our partners speed up the time to market of their 5G products, from 5G Small Cells to fast testing solutions in production lines of 5G base stations and smartphones.”
“I am pleased that RF DSP is building white-box hardware in support of O-RAN’s vision,” said Dr. Chih-Lin I, Technical Steering Committee (TSC) Co-Chair of the O-RAN Alliance. “The features of modularity, scalability, hot-swapability, remote-programmability, and support of 100MHz to 400MHz 5G NR bandwidth with contiguous carrier aggregation are important requirements for 5G hardware developing platform. It can accelerate the development of the white-box base station hardware. Also the proffer of FPGA codes and IP is very important for the feasibility of the software function of 5G white-box base station.”
“The 5G infrastructure market is driving innovation and we are pleased that RF DSP has selected our market-leading Virtex UltraScale+ device as the main 5G engine of its platform to provide the massive DSP power and compute needed in its 5G white-box hardware platform,” said Farhad Shafai, vice president, Communications Markets, Xilinx. “The full-mesh backplane which interconnects up to 24 UltraScale+ Virtex FPGAs shines the spotlight on the superior high-speed SERDES technology and DSP power in our UltraScale+ family.”
RF DSP will exhibit the wide-bandwidth high-performance White-Box 5G Hardware platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from Feb. 25 to 28, 2019 at booth 8.0J21 in Hall 8 for Next Tech. For more information, contact RF DSP Inc. at info@rfdsp.com or visit rfdsp.com/products/5G-White-Box-Hardware
About RF DSP Inc.
RF DSP is a provider of 5G MIMO and software defined radio products and design services, for both sub 6GHz and millimeter wave. RF DSP has developed a strong portfolio of patents in these areas, covering key 5G technologies and smart network architectures. As a member of the O-RAN Alliance, RF DSP’s business model is to provide products and solutions to support white-box 5G hardware and decoupling of CU and DU to align with operators’ needs. For more information, please visit http://www.rfdsp.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
