The Overview
Wireless Telecom Group's CommAgility brand now offers a four-channel small-cell platform for high-performance 5G applications, such as industrial private networks, cloud applications, and video streaming. The SC-RF4-5Gn78 is a standalone 5G small-cell gNodeB platform for indoor applications, turning into a complete baseband and RF small-cell solution.
Who Needs It & Why?
The SC-RF4-5Gn78 enables system integrators to achieve high data rates from the platform’s four 100-MHz RF channels. This can be advantageous to system integrators working on complex and specialized 5G applications. Often, off-the-shelf, small-cell equipment from Tier 1 suppliers don't offer the flexibility to support complex tasks.
Under the Hood
Each of the platform's four flexible RF channels provide up to 100 MHz of bandwidth, enabling 4x4 MIMO downlink operation and delivering gigabit throughput, fulfilling the promises of high-data-rate 5G. The platform combines CommAgility’s SmallCellPHY-5G and SmallCellSTACK-5G software along with its baseband and RF hardware, which is based on NXP’s Layerscape and Layerscape Access SoCs. The pre-integrated platform reduces development risk and effort, and optionally includes closed-loop digital-predistortion support for optimal RF performance.
The reference platform can be licensed for customer modification to specific needs, or CommAgility could make such modifications. The company also is able to customize its 5G software to the specific needs of each project, which simplifies development, cuts time to market, and reduces risk. With the full software stack developed in-house, the platform is adaptable for customer-selected 3GPP Release 16 and 17 features.
The SC-RF4-5Gn78 is based on NXP’s Layerscape and Layerscape Access processors, and combines 16 Arm Cortex-A72 cores with NXP VSPA DSP cores, security, and wireless accelerators. As a collaboration partner with NXP for its Layerscape Access processors, CommAgility can provide services and support to others developing and deploying 5G products using the NXP platform.
CommAgility’s comprehensive software portfolio for 5G New Radio (NR) development includes pre-ported and validated physical-layer (PHY) and stack software, a 5G core, and PHY reference chains. This simplifies the development of 5G small cells and private networks, with the software’s flexible architecture making integration easier with hardware accelerators and libraries. Versions are available for both 5G gNodeB and UE product developers.
In addition to the SC-RF4-5Gn78, the company also offers the SC-RF2-5Gn78, a two-channel version, and the 5G Reference gNodeB, a pre-integrated reference design.