(Image courtesy of NXP website)

For infrastructure development covering all frequency and power bands

NXP Semiconductors announced a strategic plan consisting of products and technologies that meet all system requirements for 5G. NXP is combining a comprehensive portfolio of low-power and high-power RF technologies to address 5G requirements such as bandwidth, linearity, power efficiency, and small form factor solutions.

Providing high-quality video streaming, multi-device connectivity, and real-time communication with virtually no latency in any environment is just some of the many advantages of 5G wireless communication. To achieve this, wireless architecture must be significantly advanced and utilize macro cell and small cell base stations operating in frequency bands ranging from hundreds of MHz to tens of GHz.

Paul Hart, Senior Vice President and General Manager of RF Power at NXP, stated, “Since the merger with Freescale, NXP has acquired the key elements to create the highly integrated, high-performance RF front-end solutions required by 5G. The combination of industry-leading Si-LDMOS, GaN, and SiGe enables us to launch a full range of 5G power amplifiers that are highly integrated and cost-effective,” adding, “NXP is the only company capable of providing integrated power amplifiers at both the infrastructure power level and the mobile device level.”

NXP's RF process technology is key to implementing NXP's strategic plan to accelerate 5G. NXP encompasses processing technologies for low, medium, and ultra-high frequencies required for 5G systems. From market introduction to the evolution to 4G LTE, the primary RF process technology for base station power amplifiers has been silicon LDMOS. NXP’s LDMOS provides the high level of integration required to support large-scale MIMO-based systems below 3 GHz, and will continue to play an important role in the 5G era.

When high frequencies are deployed, NXP will utilize optimized Gallium Nitride (GaN) process technology to complement LDMOS in products designed to support frequencies above 3 GHz. Additionally, NXP plans to use Silicon Germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process technology for the extremely high centimeter and millimeter frequency bands required for 5G systems. In fact, NXP is currently a leading supplier of automated radar chipsets utilizing NXP SiGe technology operating at 77 GHz. Furthermore, NXP's SiGe-based low-noise amplifiers, recently deployed in the mobile communications market, are gradually replacing expensive GaAs-based solutions in infrastructure, mobile, and user equipment.

Provides a flexible and programmable signal processing architecture

In terms of processors, NXP utilizes its Vector Signal Processing Architecture (VSPA) in scalable devices, providing the full flexibility required for 5G systems relying on beam-forming and massive multi-user MIMO. The AFD4400 Digital Front-End (DFE) System-on-Chip (SoC), announced last year, covers full transmit, tune, and receive functions while enabling fully programmable data paths via software. This flexibility and programmability allow data paths to be configured to meet various antenna and bandwidth requirements. When this platform works with broadband transceivers, it enables the realization of the concept of Software Defined Radio (SDR). For example, when combined with NXP's baseband processor solution, the QorIQ Qonverge B4860 device, the AFD4400 provides an ideal development platform for 5G systems.

NXP’s extensive portfolio of baseband, wireless, antenna processing, and RF front-end solutions and software, ranging from the network core to antennas and back, will help ensure the success of 5G systems.