Verify 5G System Performance

Using Xilinx RFSoC and

Avnet RFSoC Development Kit

Matt Brown

Elements of an RF Development SystemModeling and simulation of the entire signal chain

RF Front-endBaseband

Processing

Test and

Verification

MATLAB and Simulink

RF Sampling

+ DFE

Elements of an RFSoC Development SystemModeling and simulation of the entire signal chain

MATLAB and Simulink

Zynq® UltraScale+™ RFSoC

Test and

Verification

PA

LNA

Signal Processing from RF Front-End to Digital

12-bit

6.5GSPS

14-bit

Logic

Fabric

Gain/Phase

Compensation IQ Mixers

Decimation

I/Q Mixers

Interpolation

4GSPS

RF

DAC

Gain/Phase

Compensation

NCO

NCO

I/Q

or

Real

I/Q

or

Real

Digital Mixing and Filtering

• A complete DSP subsystem

• Digital Up-Conversion and Down-Conversion

Flexibility to Bypass Subsystem

• Optionally bypass subsystem for fully custom signal conditioning

• Not possible with discrete converters (I/O limitation)

Direct-Sampling

• High channel count

• Multiple Configurations

RF

ADC

Communication-Grade PLLs

Utilize lower frequency on-board clocks

Internal PLL

Internal PLL

How Do We Characterize RF Hardware?

MATLAB and Simulink

Characterization

RF-DAC

DUC

DDC

Test and

Verification

PA

LNA

RF-ADC

Characterize 5G NR at the Band of Interest

Noise Spectral Density

Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR)

IM3

How Do We Characterize RF Hardware?

MATLAB and Simulink

Characterization

RF-DAC

DUC

DDC

Test and

Verification

PA

LNA

RF-ADC

Avnet Products & Emerging Technologies Group

Prototyping

with SoCs can

be easier

Abstract the

hardware using

a suitable

language

Deliver an

intuitive app

built natively in

MATLAB®

A History of SoC Abstraction

ARM9

FPGA

RF

XCVRDSP

2010 2016 2019

RFSoC

Explore Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC from Antenna to Digital

Zynq ® UltraScale+™ RFSoC

ZCU111 Evaluation Kit

RFSoC Explorer®

Small Cell RF Front End

2x2 1.8 GHz FDD

Abstracting the Hardware

Custom

Boot

Image

MATLAB

System

Objects

MATLAB

System

Objects

MATLAB

System

Objects

PL

Downlink

RF DAC

DUC

DDC

RF ADC

Uplink

PS

DDCControl

Observation

ZCU111

Gigabit Ethernet

RFSoC Explorer Enables System Exploration

LTE Toolbox

Modeling the Digital Up-Converter in RF-DAC Tile

Characterization

RF-DAC

DUC

PA

LNA

LTE Waveform Through Qorvo Observation Path

5G Toolbox

RF Link Budget Analysis of Qorvo Front End

MATLAB and Simulink

Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC

PA

LNA

Next … Digital Pre-Distortion to Linearize the PA

Driver PA

180 MHz BW observation path

Simulink Adaptive DPD Modeling

RFSoC Explorer in MATLAB Apps Store

Installation – MATLAB Apps & Add-Ons

Requires – Communications Toolbox Support Package for Xilinx Zynq-Based Radio

Free MATLAB Trial Package for Wireless Communications @ mathworks.com/rfsoc

avnet.com / rfsockit

Thank You!