Chipmakers Model AI For Radio Access Networks


The chips that power and connect smartphones are now foundational to a disparate portfolio of daily tasks we take for granted, from accessing the internet to snapping a photo or asking Siri or Google if rain is in the forecast. Most people don’t think twice about the conflicting demands these tasks can place on semiconductors, but for engineers at leading chip manufacturers, this balancing ac... » read more

Repositioning For A Changing IC Market


Sailesh Chittipeddi, executive vice president at Renesas, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about how changes in end markets are shifting demand for technology. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Renesas has acquired a number of companies over the past several years. What's the goal? Chittipeddi: The goal very simply is to create an industry leading solutio... » read more

Open RAN Direct RF Sampling Radio Transceiver Architectures For Massive MIMO


With the exponential increase in wireless traffic, mobile networks are transformed into more software-driven, virtualized, flexible, intelligent, and energy efficient systems. These trends have stimulated significant change in the core network with the advent of software defined networks (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV), which have enabled building more agile and less expensive ... » read more

The Search For 5G mmWave Filters


Cellular telephone technology takes advantage of a large number of frequency bands to provide ever-increasing bandwidth for mobile use. Each of those bands needs a filter to keep its signals separate from other bands, but the filter technologies in current use for cellphones may not scale up to the full millimeter-wave (mmWave) range planned for 5G. “MmWave will happen,” said Mike Eddy, ... » read more

Power Amp Wars Begin For 5G


Demand is increasing for power amplifier chips and other RF devices for 5G base stations, setting the stage for a showdown among different companies and technologies. The power amplifier device is a key component that boosts the RF power signals in base stations. It's based on two competitive technologies, silicon-based LDMOS or RF gallium nitride (GaN). GaN, a III-V technology, outperforms ... » read more

Huawei: 5G Is About Capacity, Not Speed


Paul Scanlan, CTO of the Huawei Carrier Business Group in Huawei Technologies, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about 5G, which use cases are attractive and why, and how that compares with previous wireless technologies. SE: Where are you seeing 5G, and how do you see this rolling out both for sub-6GHz and millimeter wave? Scanlan: 5G is a platform for transformation. The f... » read more

What’s After 5G


This year’s IEEE Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits (VLSI 2020) included a presentation by NTT Docomo that looked far into the future of cellular communications, setting the stage for a broad industry shift in communication. This is far from trivial. 5G only just recently entered the commercial world, and — especially with the higher millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies — it has ... » read more

How To Design User Equipment Antenna Systems For 5G Wireless Networks


Next-generation cellular wireless communications will enable numerous innovative, cutting-edge technologies and products. The combination of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and microwave bands accompanied by advanced spatial multiplexing techniques such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) will form the backbone of a new cellular technology called 5G. The evolution to 5G promises low late... » read more

Ensuring A 5G Design Is Viable


Ron Squiers, network solutions specialist at Mentor, a Siemens Business, explains what’s different in 5G chips versus 4G, how to construct a front haul and back haul system so it is testable in the network stack. » read more

Issues In Designing 5G Beamforming Antennas


As 5G networking inches closer to reality, one of the more stubborn problems also will be one of the smallest. Several issues have yet to be cracked with beamforming and massive MIMO antennas, which will make millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum—a key ingredient in 5G networks—work on multiple devices and base-station locations. Millimeter wave is problematic yet promising. Between bands 30... » read more

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