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5G – The Future of Cellular

The complexity of the cellular infrastructure has evolved from 2G to LTE and now 5G.  The expected 5G speeds reaching 1000x that of LTE will not only enhance existing telecom services, but also lay a new infrastructure for emerging applications such as virtual/augmented reality, self-driving cars, the internet of things (IoT) and wearable and implantable devices [1-2].

The 5G architecture will employ multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and beamforming technology to direct signal power for increased over-the-air data rates.  A number of demonstration 5G systems achieving more than 3Gb/s have been published in the literature [2-3].  These MIMO architectures will stimulate new design goals on the size and capabilities of the RF transceiver hardware.  A block diagram of a digital beamforming 5G massive MIMO architecture is shown in Fig. 1.

Several key directions for 5G have emerged.  First, the critical allocation of spectrum will dictate the design and implementation of transceiver hardware.  Due to the highly congested sub-6-GHz cellular bands, mm-Wave frequencies are necessary for achieving the desired low-latency, high speed transmission.  The FCC has approved of several bands for leading cellular carriers including 28GHz (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile), 37GHz and 39GHz (T-Mobile) [4].  Initial development at 28GHz is the most likely but still has significant challenges.  While full mm-wave 5G infrastructure is being developed, carriers will first implement sub-6GHz 5G systems employing many of the same MIMO beamforming techniques but at lower, more technologically accessible frequencies.  A number of sub-6GHz 5G MIMO systems have been demonstrated at 3.3-4.2 GHz [5].

Massive MIMO beamforming will require a multiplicity of RF circuitry for each antenna element in the phased-array transceiver system.  Therefore, size, cost and power density are crucial figures of merit for both the base station and handset architectures.  Analog, digital and hybrid beamforming techniques are under consideration.  A multiplicity of RF transmit and receive chains will be required as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Digital beamforming architecture for 5G massive MIMO systems.

References

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