Chernetskaya Dreamstime com 6078705b89bfc

Mavenir, Xilinx Collaborate on Open RAN mMIMO Portfolio

April 15, 2021

The pair has successfully integrated mMIMO end-to-end using Open RAN principles, accelerating the Open RAN ecosystem.

The 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) ecosystem received a boost with news of Mavenir and Xilinx collaborating on a unified 4G/5G O-RAN massive MIMO (mMIMO) portfolio. The two companies have completed end-to-end integration of a first-generation mMIMO solution using O-RAN principles. The first mMIMO 64TRX joint solution is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The integration, which was accomplished at Mavenir’s Bangalore, India lab, covered multiple deployment scenarios and was evaluated by six communications service providers (CSPs), all of which are leading global operators. Mavenir delivered the Virtualized RAN (vRAN) support for mMIMO, including Core Network, CU, and DU, with Xilinx providing the Category B O-RAN Radio Unit.

With the successful integration, the companies have reached a critical milestone in the delivery of an open and interoperable interface, which enables the deployment of mMIMO in high-density, high-mobile-traffic metropolitan areas.

Together, Mavenir and Xilinx say they are developing the next generation of mMIMO products, which add up to the world’s first O-RAN-compliant 64TRX mMIMO solution supporting up to 400 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth in a compact form factor. Mavenir's vRAN software supports multi-user MIMO with up to 16 layers, advanced receiver algorithms, and full digital beamforming, all running on Mavenir's open and flexible cloud-native platform, as well as on other cloud platforms. Xilinx contributes its Zynq RFSoC digital front end (DFE) and Versal AI Core for advanced beamforming, delivering a fully integrated hardware and software O-RAN-compliant mMIMO solution.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our contributor's packet, in which you'll find an article template and lots more useful information on how to properly prepare content for us, and send to me along with a signed release form.

About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.