Analog Devices, Inc. introduced a millimeter-wave (mmW) 5G front-end chipset that addresses required frequency bands enabling designers to reduce complexity and bring smaller and more versatile radios to market faster. The chipset comprises four highly integrated ICs and provides a complete solution to significantly reduce the number of components needed for 24 to 47GHz 5G radios. 

 

As mmW 5G deployment accelerates globally, operators are facing greater pressure to reduce rollout costs while expanding their network footprint with more energy-efficient, lightweight, and reliable radios. This requires highly linear, compact, and power-efficient wideband products that allow design reuse over multiple bands without compromising on quality and performance. The ADI mmW 5G front-end chipset allows OEMs to depart from the narrowband paradigm where competing solutions have traded-off design execution difficulty and radio frequency (RF) performance for bandwidth, while also outsourcing critical pieces of intellectual property such as packaging, test, and thermal modeling. 

 

The new chipset comprises two single-channel (1T1R) up/down converters (UDCs) and two dual-polarization 16-channel beamformer devices on an advanced CMOS process. The power efficiency and linear output power provided by the beamformers enable size, weight, power, and cost reduction in mmW phased array designs compared to competing solutions. The full-band UDCs with high drive levels eliminate the need for frequency band variants and absorb driver stages for a bill of materials savings. The chipset also enables seamless operation of phased array calibration functions online in the field in addition to factory non-volatile memory (NVM) through patented IP. This allows OEMs to move beyond the constraints of legacy NVM-only designs limited to one-time factory calibration of the beamformer, which does not address non-idealities external to the ICs and results in sub-optimal calibration results.

 

The Analog Devices’ mmW 5G front-end chipset includes:

ADMV4828—16-channel beamformer covering the entire 24-29.5GHz band in a single IC with >12.5dBm output power at 3% EVM with a 400MHz 64QAM 5G NR waveform while consuming only 310mW

ADMV1139—37 GHz to 50GHz wideband UDC for the upcoming 47GHz, as well as the 37 to 43.5GHz 5G NR bands, in a single IC with optional on-chip RF switch and hybrid, with baseband IQ support