Xilinx Inc of San Jose, CA, USA, which provides all-programmable field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), systems-on-chip (SoCs) and 3D ICs, and Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd are collaborating to reduce capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx) through the use of Sumitomo Electric's gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier transistors and Xilinx's SmartCORE IP, resulting in higher radio unit efficiencies. Wireless system designers using Xilinx's SmartCORE IP can scale to support small cells to high-end macro cells, as well as active antenna systems (AAS), offering customers time-to-market advantages, lower development costs, high efficiency, lower SWaP (size, weight and power), and lower total cost, it is reckoned.
Xilinx radio SmartCORE IP such as digital up-converters and down-converters (DUC/DDC), crest factor reduction (CFR) and digital pre-distortion (DPD) IP cores, coupled with generation-ahead 28nm Zynq-7000 all-programmable SoCs, offers a single-chip implementation of the entire digital radio in addition to board-level control and calibration typically found in an external processor.
"By collaborating with Sumitomo Electric, we are able to provide our customers with a smarter solution that is scalable to support the needs of broadband microcells, and up to the highest performance multi-antenna broadband macros and AAS installations," says David Hawke, director of wireless product marketing at Xilinx. "Additionally, our radio IP, coupled with Sumitomo Electric's power amplifier transistors, allow OEMs to design equipment that ultimately save operator CapEx and OpEx, as well as reduce device cost and power," he adds.
The high breakdown voltage and saturation velocity characteristics of GaN devices suit high-power and high-temperature base-station applications. The higher power density of GaN also allows for smaller devices, reducing size and cost.
"Sumitomo Electric's GaN-based power devices, combined with Xilinx's SmartCORE IP, will demonstrate the world's next generation of highly efficient solutions for the wireless market," says Nobu Kuwata, general manager of Technology and Marketing Strategy Department at Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations Inc (SEDI). "Sumitomo Electric is committed to developing the products necessary to meet the requirements of our customers offering smarter solutions."
A live demonstration of the Sumitomo Electric GaN and Xilinx DPD IP core will be given in the Sumitomo Electric booth (number 2120) at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2013) in Seattle, WA, USA (4-6 June).
