Analog Devices recently announced a millimeter wave (mmw) 5G front-end chipset with the goal to reduce complexity to produce faster radios. The chipset contains 4 ICs and works on a wide frequency of 24-47GHz radio waves.
With the need for faster communication and higher data transfer rates, the pace of 5G deployment is at an all-time high but according to the company, most of the existing products work in narrowband which are difficult to implement in a variety of applications due to their narrowband and radio frequency performance for bandwidth. In order to curb the cost and complexity, the new device from the analog device can provide a compact, highly linear, and power-efficient wideband solution that can be utilized in multiple products without degrading the quality and performance.
The chipset is said to feature an advanced CMOS process and offers two 16-channel dual-polarization beamformer devices. ADMV4828 and ADMV4928 are the two 16-channel beamformers covering the entire 24-29.5GHz band and 37-43.5GHz bands respectively in each IC while consuming less than 340mW / channel.
It also has two single-channel (1T1R) up/down converters (UDCs). The ADMV1128 offers 24GHz-29.5GHz wideband UDC while the ADMV1139 offers 37-50GHz wideband UDC along with 37-43.5GHz 5G NR bands. Both the UDCs offer an optional on-chip RF switch and a hybrid with baseband IQ support.
The company also claims that compared to any other competing solutions in mmW phased array designs, the chipset offers reduced size, weight, and cost along with better power efficiency due to the linear power provided by the beamformers. Further saving in the bill of materials (BOM) is made possible by the availability of full-band up/down converters with high drive levels which eliminates the need for frequency band variants.
The 5G NR Bands addressed by the ICs are:
| Product | 5G NR Bands Addressed |
| ADMV4828 | n257, n258, and n261 |
| ADMV4928 | n260, n259 |
| ADMV1128 | n257, n258, and n261 |
| ADMV1139 | n260, n259, and n262 |
