NI Demonstrates Software Defined Radio MilimeterWave Technology for Enhancing 5G Research

AUSTIN, TX: National Instruments (NI), a provider of integrated hardware and software platforms, introduces a complete PXI-based software defined radio (SDR) platform, essentially a fully customizable mmWave 5G transceiver.

Addressing channel sounding and prototyping applications in the 71-76 GHz (E-band) range, the system is capable of transmitting and receiving customizable mmWave signals up to 2 GHz real-time bandwidth. The system is focused on delivering a full-featured prototyping platform for researchers racing to design 5G systems.

The channel coding for physical layer is in LabVIEW virtual instruments source code tofacilitate system development while alleviating many of the system integration tasks. MmWave transceiver can be used with the E-band mmWave heads or other third-party RF front ends to offer maximum flexibility for exploring other mmWave and microwave frequency bands.

Nokia has been working with early versions of the mmWave transceiver system in its 5G research initiatives, Nokia and NI demonstrated an operational 10 GB/s link.

“NI’s mmWave transceiver system has been a key research platform for our mmWave research,” says Tod Sizer, Head of Mobile Radio Research for Nokia Bell Labs. “The platform delivers the right combination of hardware and software necessary to expedite our research and has given us confidence that mmWave will indeed be a critical technology for 5G. At this year’s Brooklyn 5G Summit, we are demonstrating a high data rate mmWave system using phased array @ 60 GHz using NI’s platform, thus making 5G a commercial reality.”