How modelling and simulation support mmWave design integration and delivery
More companies are seeing the benefit of adding mmWave technology to their RF portfolio. There are significant benefits that come with operating in the 24 to 30 GHz frequency bands. The primary advantages are the wider bandwidths it offers with lower latency. However, mmWave also incurs higher propagation loss than sub-6GHz frequencies.
Applications for 5G mmWave are emerging daily. Fixed wireless access, which uses cellular to replace cable broadband, is one. This began with 4G, but it is expected to increase as 5G becomes prominent.
Mastering the technical challenges that come with moving into mmWave communications must be coupled with understanding where the technology is a good fit for an application. In 5G, mmWave is unsurpassed over distances of around 100 meters. It introduces the need for advanced techniques such as beamforming and phased array antennas to direct the RF energy and minimize losses.
From antenna to data
Increasing design complexity is a common trend across all verticals. As integrated electronics become more sophisticated, suppliers provide more abstraction from the underlying solution. Often this involves moving away from component-level design and starting with pre-integrated modules.
This is now happening in mmWave design. RF is challenging by any measure, but mmWave comes with increased complexity. It is the focus and expertise of a small number of suppliers, far fewer than the suppliers targeting other applications found in large verticals such as automotive or industrial. But we can also expect mmWave to find its way into these verticals. Suppliers offering mmWave solutions are moving from evaluation and into production.
The market opportunity that exists in each of the large verticals will be served by systems that are easily integrated, require little or no mmWave expertise and are supported for long service. This is creating demand for off-the-shelf systems that offer a simple way to move directly from RF to the digital domain, or to put it another way, from antenna to data.
With only a small number of experienced suppliers, OEMs looking to adopt mmWave have the advantage of a streamlined supply chain. However, the industry is maturing, which comes with rapid expansion. We are reaching a point where supporting a growing customer base from a relatively small supplier population presents its own challenges.
Moving to a modular and systemic design methodology relieves the need for deep technical support. It also gives OEMs an advantage.
Caption: Avnet is working with industry leaders in 5G technologies to remove the complexity in mmWave design.
Avnet is working with technology leaders in mmWave beamforming and phased array antenna module (PAAM) design. The advanced hardware solutions it offers are supported in the software domain by a dedicated tool flow. The RFSoC Explorer MATLAB application is an important part of that flow. Through its close partnership with MathWorks – the company behind MATLAB® and Simulink® – Avnet developed RFSoC Explorer to bring all the hardware elements together. Explorer can be configured to control an entire system built around Avnet’s mmWave boards.
Avnet’s RFSoC boards and system-on-modules (SoMs) are at the heart of this modular system approach. The RFSoC range is based on the AMD Xilinx Zynq™ UltraScale+™ RFSoC, a single-chip adaptable radio platform.
The latest addition to Avnet’s mmWave portfolio is the FutureAccess™ PAAM from Fujikura. The PAAM has been designed for high-precision and high-resolution beam steering, with enough output power for small, low-cost base stations. Fujikura has combined true time delay phase shift technology with an efficient design that also simplifies thermal management.
Avnet, Fujikura, and Rohde & Schwarz will present a workshop at this year’s International Microwave Symposium (IMS) June, 11-16, 2023, San Diego, CA. The workshop (ITWU7: Validating a CATR benchtop OTA test system for 5G FR2 Phased Array Antenna R&D Testing) will validate a compact antenna test range (CATR) benchtop test system. The PAAMs include ICs for beamforming, frequency conversion and filters.
Simulation drives innovation
The combination of AMD Xilinx’ UltraScale+ RFSoC with beamforming technology from Otava and FutureAccess PAAM puts all the technology needed to develop a mmWave solution into engineers’ hands.
These complex systems are largely defined through the software they run. However, the hardware is critical. The processing speed and performance needed to implement mmWave systems can only be delivered using application-specific integrated circuits. That demands either a full-customer ASIC, or a high-end FPGA. Avnet uses the AMD Xilinx UltraScale+ RFSoC because it is best-in-class for both development and production.
Even with the best EDA tools, compile times for these complex systems can be in the region of days. Engineering teams can ill afford to spend several days between iterations. To accelerate the design cycle, simulation is used extensively. This level of simulation now extends to the entire system. All the hardware used can be accurately simulated, using either real-world data or simulated data.
In a second IMS workshop (IMSTH6: Balancing Tradeoffs: Taming Signal Integrity Challenges in mmWave Anetnna-to-Bits Implementations) technical experts from Samtec, Mathworks, Avnet, Otava, and Rohde & Schwarz explain the interaction between simulation models and live signal data. It will show how multi-disciplinary engineers can collaborate through integrated design flows coupled with API-based scripting to automate complex measurement scenarios. This on-demand webinar from Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates test solutions using MATLAB, supporting remote testing through the Rohde & Schwarz Secure Application Gateway™.
Continuous development for 5G mmWave
It can take several years to develop a mmWave solution. During that time, the technology and often the standards keep moving forward. For OEMs, this enforces a regime of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).
Even when a system has been delivered, the development work must continue at the same pace. Systems in the field will need to be updated during their operating lifetime. Engineers can apply this new paradigm through a design flow that supports CI/CD.
Simulation is part of the new flow. But hardware and software design teams will need to work more closely than ever. The interdependence of these two domains is most apparent in mmWave systems.
In the third of three IMS workshops (IMSTH5: Co-Design Techniques for Wideband mmWave and Satcom Phased Array Systems) Octava, MathWorks, Avnet, and Rohde & Schwarz will describe how a model-based design approach using hardware measurements enables testing before the prototype is ready. The workshop will use hardware and software models to optimize the performance of a full phased-array signal chain.
Conclusion
More OEMs are now moving to deployment with business models that depend on robust and reliable mmWave systems. In turn, their market is demanding faster delivery with continuous in-field improvements.
This presents a new paradigm, even in a market based on mature technology. With 5G and mmWave still in its infancy, manufacturers must look at the solutions that present the least risk. Today, that means moving to a modular design methodology and making full use of the new design flows to model, simulate, analyze, and prototype hardware and software architectures.
Avnet and its partners have developed a design flow that meets this demand. With both hardware and software solutions available, and well-structured design flows that support a faster time to market and CI/CD.
Further engineering resources:
- IMS Microwave Week | June 11-16, 2023, in San Diego, CA (ims-ieee.org)
- Advanced Testing of 5G mmWave RF Systems | Rohde & Schwarz
- SoC Blockset Support Package for Xilinx Devices Documentation - MathWorks
- Avnet RFSoC Explorer - File Exchange - MATLAB Central
- Getting Started Guides for Avnet RFSoC Boards
- Getting started with HDL Coder for the Xilinx ZCU208 RFSoC Gen 3 development board