When news broke that Fujitsu and Xilinx would be collaborating to create a solution aimed at helping spread 5G throughout the United States, DISH Wireless may not be the first name you think of. That is until you remember that not only is Fujitsu a vendor already helping DISH wireless, but the company also placed a large purchase order for low and mid-band radios from Fujitsu that are O-RAN Alliance-compliant in June 2020.
This is important because the solution these two companies are working on will take Fujitsu’s O-RAN 5G radio units (O-RUs) and place Xilinx’s UltraScale+ within. The idea is that by doing so, mobile operators will achieve greater network flexibility and be capable of more customizable solutions as a result. This is achieved by providing a path for multiple vendors to operate between the baseband and radio unit as is a growing trend with O-RAN taking over the 5G world.
“Our Fujitsu design team worked closely with Xilinx on our O-RAN radio units to enable greater flexibility and cost savings while also delivering greater innovation as well as new capabilities for 5G networks,” said Masaki Taniguchi, the Senior VP and Head of the Mobile System Business Unit at Fujitsu.
The approach each company is using as well as the innovative benefits they are bringing to the table will deliver whoever uses their solution the ability to use less power, cut cost, improve collaboration, and gain functionality. This is possible in part because of the smaller surface area that is regulating waveform-processing applications and the power-saving ability of Xilinx’s UltraScale+ devices. Fujitsu is also evaluating Xilinx’s programmable radio-frequency system-on-a-chip (RFSoC) and the benefits it might bring including its ability to use less power and cut costs up to 75% that are related to 5G massive-MIMO and mmWave wireless backhaul applications.
One of the main focal points of how DISH Wireless will create its 5G network is by using existing infrastructures as the backbone of its own. This is known as a greenfield design and it will assist America’s soon-to-be newest major 5G carrier in saving money and time as it races to cover 75% of Americans with its 5G network or face a fine of more than $2.2 billion before 2025. While details are scarce on who Fujitsu and Xilinx would be providing their solution to, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Xilinx Liam Madden did mention that it was to go on as a component of “a major greenfield 5G network.” This has created even more speculation. We will have to wait and see what the future holds for all of these companies but as the old saying goes “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Source: RCR Wireless
