Wedoany.com Report on Mar 2nd, Broadcom recently introduced BroadPeak™, a radio digital front-end (DFE) system-on-chip designed for 5G massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and remote radio head (RRH) applications. This massive MIMO SoC, manufactured using a 5nm CMOS process, integrates the DFE and ADC/DAC modules on a single chip, reducing power consumption by up to 40% compared to existing solutions. It operates across a frequency range of 400 MHz to 8.5 GHz and is designed to support 5G Advanced and 6G wireless infrastructure.
Massive MIMO technology is used to enhance the coverage, capacity, and transmission efficiency of 5G networks. The BroadPeak massive MIMO SoC can meet the technical requirements of the 5G Advanced standard, supporting the n104 frequency band (6.425 to 7.125 GHz) as well as the upper-mid band (7 to 8.5 GHz) for 6G standards.
Key features of this massive MIMO SoC include: support for 32T32R8FB configuration (with options for 8T8R2FB and 16T16R4FB), RF carrier frequency range from 400 MHz to 8.5 GHz, integrated digital pre-distortion, carrier aggregation, peak-to-average power ratio reduction, instantaneous bandwidth of 860 MHz, output bandwidth of 800 MHz, ACLR with DPD better than -50 dBc, DPD learning speed 100 times faster than typical references, and ADC/DAC sampling rates up to 19.6 GS/s.
Vijay Janapaty, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Physical Layer Products Division, stated: "As 5G New Radio expands into the 6 GHz and above spectrum to address the growth of AI and data-intensive applications, infrastructure must be upgraded accordingly. Our next-generation massive MIMO SoC is designed to deliver the high linearity and energy efficiency required for future connectivity. The BroadPeak SoC integrates DFE, AFE, and high-linearity data converters at 8.5 GHz, bringing up to 40% efficiency improvement to next-generation base stations."
Raghib Hussain, President and CEO of Altera, said: "As mobile networks evolve towards 5G Advanced and 6G, the industry needs deep, open, and optimized collaboration on silicon platforms. Our collaboration with Broadcom and the interoperability testing between Altera Agilex™ 7 FPGA and the BroadPeak SoC validate a scalable, high-performance foundation for next-generation radio platforms, helping equipment manufacturers and operators innovate."
Siba Satapathy, Chief Growth and Transformation Officer at Hitachi GlobalLogic, commented: "As wireless access networks evolve to require greater intelligence, production-grade software is as important as the underlying hardware. By co-developing the BroadPeak SDK with Broadcom, Hitachi GlobalLogic simplifies hardware complexity and unlocks advanced DFE capabilities, ensuring next-generation massive MIMO, RRH, and Open RAN architectures are both innovative and deployable."
Broadcom has begun providing BroadPeak BCM85021 samples to early customers and partners. Sample and pricing information is available through Broadcom sales representatives.
