Avnet Inc. and Fujikura have unveiled a 5G FR2 phased array antenna development platform designed for millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands.
The platform allows users to develop and prototype 5G mmWave systems using AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen3 and Fujikura’s FutureAccess phased array antenna module (PAAM). These components use the Avnet RFSoC Explorer MATLAB dashboard.
“With the acceleration of the 5G market, higher bandwidth applications are driving the need for mmWave technology, especially in the industrial and telecom segments,” said Jim Beneke, vice president of Advanced Applications Group at Avnet. “Through our collaboration with Fujikura, AMD and MathWorks, we’re announcing our new platform that brings together the key building blocks of mmWave radio solutions allowing designers to quickly prototype communications algorithms, reduce engineering time, and get into the 5G market even faster.”
The system can be extended to control the entire system from antenna to digital but allows users to implement and test mmWave beamforming applications quickly without HDL or software coding, Avnet said.
The complete PAAM module is integrated with 8x8 antenna element, radio frequncy ICs, filter and optimal TCO and operates in the 3GPP FR2 frequency bands n257, n258 and n261 allowing for use in both indoor and outdoor applications.
The companies will demonstrate the 5G mmWave PAAM development board at the IMS conference in San Diego on June 13-15.
