Vodafone and AMD are collaborating on mobile base station silicon chip designs that will give 5G radios the required horsepower to meet future demand for higher-capacity AI and digital services, quickly and reliably.

This initiative will also support Vodafone’s aim to reduce the radio antenna size, energy consumption and the number of base stations, all while continuing to give good coverage.

At the Vodafone Innovation Centre in Málaga, Spain, engineers from both Vodafone and AMD are testing radio hardware with AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC (www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-rfsoc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-rfsoc-dfe.html) devices. This is a single-chip radio platform, which can be adapted to combine several radio features, including a set of Arm processors.

The benefit of these integrated adaptive RFSoC devices is they can house a radio receiver and are flexible enough to accommodate multiple frequencies. Unlike existing devices such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which are very efficient but inflexible, the AMD RFSoCs can be remotely modified after installation and custom designed for a particular set of radio configurations.

This will allow Vodafone engineers to support new 5G services quickly and introduce the latest AI algorithms and industry standards, as well as dial up capacity during busy periods without having to rip out and replace existing hardware. The modular design of these AMD adaptive SoCs also makes them ideal for Open RANs, which are constructed using a mix and match of hardware and software from different vendors.

In addition to assessing the performance and cost of new chipset designs, Vodafone engineers in Málaga are also evaluating the latest compatible radio units from multiple vendors. Vodafone’s goal is to develop a robust chip ecosystem by providing specifications and contributing towards the development of algorithms that can power new energy-efficient and intelligent networks.

Most of the energy consumed by an operator’s network comes from the power amplification (PA) of the radio signals sent to users. Using the RFSoC chipsets, Vodafone is pioneering several energy-saving techniques. These include reducing the level of signal distortion to enhance PA power efficiency, and testing its own 5G algorithms which, like a thermostat in a house, effectively control power consumption to match variations in customer demand.

AMD is playing a role in the advancement of 5G networks by providing the software and hardware for testing Open RAN radio units. The companies will use the UltraScale+ Zynq RFSoC DFE ZCU670 evaluation kit and Vitis design software for development and out-of-box evaluation. By embedding algorithms and technologies within its network, Vodafone (www.vodafone.com) hopes to meet future demand and scale up 5G features such as network slicing, which can give businesses, hospitals or schools their own dedicated network with desired service level guarantees, along with added security.