Firms roll out universal small cell 5G infrastructure platform

Arctic Semiconductor formerly known as SiTune, provider of low-power, universal RF chipsets, announced that its latest RF transceiver, IceWings is powering a new universal 5G small cell infrastructure platform from Compal Electronics. The open ecosystem small cell platform leverages IceWings’ design integrated with NXP Semiconductor’s Layerscape Access LA12xxx programmable baseband processor to achieve enhanced performance at a low power consumption and competes with 3GPP standard requirements on cost.

“The introduction of this universal small cell platform is a pivotal point in 5G infrastructure development, allowing 5G coverage to scale anywhere and everywhere at an exponentially faster pace,” said Vahid Toosi, CEO of Arctic Semiconductor. “Our collaboration with NXP and Compal has created a 5G platform with an unbeatable mix of performance, flexibility and cost that unlocks the true potential of 5G infrastructure and applications. Arctic prioritizes collaboration with key industry partners to build highly integrated platforms and remove barriers towards reaping the benefits of 5G across various market segments.”

The new infrastructure platform can operate at any 5G FR1 frequency bands from 600MHz to 7.2GHz. A 4×4 MIMO solution, it is fully integrated with best-in-class components and supports throughputs beyond Gbps speeds. Customers across the globe can use the universal platform to produce cost-optimized, low-power 5G small cells and O-RAN Radio Units for a wide range of applications including all-in-one or distributed networks in public or private bands.