TECHNOLOGY FEATURE » 5G NETWORKS
>> By Ken Karnofsky, senior
strategist for signal processing
applications, Math Works
Now that the initial 5G New Radio (NR) standard has been
defined, wireless engineers are
turning from research to rapid
development of products that can
deliver higher data rates, lower-latency, and more power-efficient
implementations . Along the
way, they will face a new set of
technical challenges in designing a
physical layer architecture that can
handle more complex multiuser
environment and channel conditions
at higher frequencies .
Understanding how requirements
and technologies in 5G differ from
LTE can help design engineers
prepare for working with emerging
architectures .
NEW DESIGN ARCHITEC TURES AND
ALGORITHMS FOR 5G
The leap in 5G broadband speeds
will be enabled by massive MIMO
communication in the millimeter
wave (mm Wave) frequency range
and by new radio algorithms
that achieve more efficient
use of spectrum . New design
architectures and algorithms will
affect every aspect of 5G systems,
from antennas to RF electronics
to baseband algorithms . The
performance of these subsystems is
so tightly coupled that they must be
designed and evaluated together.
New 5G mm Wave designs
will also require massive MIMO
antenna arrays with hundreds
of antenna elements on base
stations (eNodeB). Having many
antenna elements in a small area
makes it practical to achieve
a high beamforming gain for
mm Wave frequencies that can
be up to 100x smaller than an
array for microwave frequencies .
Behavioral simulation of the RF
and digital elements of massive
MIMO systems can accelerate
development and optimization of
beamforming designs .
BEHAVIORAL SIMULATION FOR
MASSIVE MIMO
Achieving an optimal design for
today’s wireless systems requires
combined models of the antenna
arrays and beamforming algorithms
to simulate their interaction and
impact on system performance .
This puts a strain on current
3G and 4G design tools, which
typically separate antenna design
from system architecture and signal
processing algorithms .
Behavioral-level simulation
of the antenna array system
addresses these challenges and
will have increased impact as
more 5G simulations come online.
Simulating at the behavioral level
reduces the simulation time . This
enables engineers to experiment
with different array architectures
and algorithms, simulate the
performance of the array and
associated algorithms, iteratively
adjust parameters to mitigate the
effect of antenna coupling, and
achieve better beamforming control .
H YBRID BEAMFORMING
While smaller wavelengths enable
massive MIMO implementation
within small form factors,
engineers will begin to find that
signal path and propagation
challenges associated with
mmWave frequencies will increase
as wireless communication systems
trend toward 5G . To achieve
better beamforming control
and flexibility for the future’s
systems, it would be ideal to have
independent weighting control
over each antenna array element,
with a transmit/receive (T/R)
module dedicated to each element.
However, this is generally not
practical due to cost, space, and
power limitations .
Understanding the Emerging
Architectures with 5G New Radio
Bringing 5G to the mainstream features many challenges, but designers can overcome them with the help of new design tools.
Figure 1: New design architectures and algorithms will affect every aspect of 5G systems, from antennas to RF electronics to
baseband algorithms. The performance of these subsystems is so tightly coupled that they must be designed and evaluated
together. (Image Source: © 1984–2018 The Math Works, Inc.)
