Open RAN radios units present several challenges around size, weight, power and cost
With the basics of Open RAN standardization mostly squared away, the industry’s attention is turning to building out the ecosystem of partners in order to accelerate adoption. In an interview at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, Joe Barry, VP of Wireless Communications at Analog Devices, spoke about how the company’s new radio unit (RU) reference designs and system on chip (SoC) contribute to this effort.
Highlighting just two of the new reference designs, Barry discussed ADI’s Massive MIMO C-band RU and its Macro 5G reference design, both of which are Open RAN compliant. ADI worked with Benetel and Marvell on the first design, with the former providing low PHY software and the latter its OCTEON Fusion baseband processor and beamforming technology. The Macro 5G reference design was developed in partnership with Intel.
When it comes to the new SoC, Barry said the 8T8R RadioVerse SoC is a more complete and “true” radio platform solution. “ADI has strong heritage in terms of what we call the thin radio, or the classic RF front end, but this [SoC] is a very significant integration of digital capability. So, full digital front end, which has a lot of the processing and algorithms that you need in these radios.”
The SoC solution, which supports Open RAN split 7.2x and according to Barry, helps address some of the biggest challenges facing the industry as they look to bring these Open RAN radios online, including reducing size, weight, power and cost.
Commenting on the state of things more broadly, Barry shared that the evolution of 5G and the activity around Open RAN has “come along at a significant pace” in the more than two years since ADI was last in Barcelona, a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pace of innovation for 5G is really gaining some momentum,” he said. “Now [with Open RAN] it’s really about building momentum [around] deploying the network…One of the areas that ADI is really committed to is the challenge of enabling a much more vibrant ecosystem in terms of developing radio units that are compliant.” He added that the company is seeing “an ever-increasing demand” on the types of infrastructure radio units available.
“Our commitment to the ecosystem, and partnerships, and being open and transparent about investing in the ecosystem, will help drive an increase in pace of innovation,” said Barry.
