RF Front-end Technology and Tradeoffs for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
(Room Ballroom G)
17 Oct 18
1:45 PM
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2:15 PM
Fixed wireless access (FWA) is the key market driver and technology helping to launch 5G Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) at mmWave frequencies. To properly support the carrier’s business case, deliver gigabit speeds to customers over broad areas, and avoid the complex logistics of deploying inside a neighborhood, FWA deployments must allow large inter-site distance (ISD) between base station sites. This is driving the need for phased array base stations that can deliver high effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and low effective isotropic sensitivity (EIS). Optimizing the base station power consumption and keeping phased array complexity reasonable is a major challenge and requires many architectural trades and prudent selection of front-end semiconductor technology. In this paper, we will discuss phased array architectures, key tradeoffs, and provide systems analysis and data illustrating how III-V semiconductor technologies, such as GaN and GaAs, can be used to optimize the performance and cost of 5G FWA mmWave systems.