5G integrated Fiber-Wireless networks exploiting

existing photonic technologies for high-density

SDN programmable network architectures

Deliverable D3.1
Report on 1st generation 64x64
MIMO antenna mmWave circuit
design and development

Programme: H2020-ICT-2016-2
Project number: 761989
Project acronym: 5G-PHOS
Start/End date: 01/09/2017 – 31/08/2020

Deliverable type: Report

Deliverable reference number: 761989/ D3.1/ Final | V.1
Deliverable title: Report on 1st generation 64x64 MIMO
antenna mmWave circuit design and
development
WP contributing to the deliverable: WP3
Responsible Editor: Siklu
Due date: 1/9/2018
Actual submission date: 17/10/2018

Dissemination level: Confidential

Revision: FINAL

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Author List:
Organization Author
Siklu Communication Yigal Leiba, Benny Versano, Elad Dayan
IMEC Xin (Scott) Yin, Guy Torfs, Nish Singh
FRAU Bogdan Sirbu
ICCS/NTUA Giannis Giannoulis
Christos Vagionas, George Kalfas, Agapi Mesodiakaki, Pavlos
AUTH
Maniotis, Marios Gkazianas, Nikos Pleros

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Abstract: 5G-PHOS aims to develop and evaluate a converged Fiber Wireless (FiWi) 5G
broadband fronthaul/backhaul network for highly dense use cases based, among other
technologies, on mmWave massive MIMO technology. This deliverable reports the 1st
generation design of a 64x64 MIMO antenna and associated mmWave circuitry design
and development. The deliverable focuses on the design process and technology
associated with this antenna.

Keywords: 5G, Fiber-Wireless, Massive MIMO, mmWave

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Disclaimer: The information, documentation and figures available in this deliverable

are written by the 5G-PHOS Consortium partners under EC co-financing (project H2020-
ICT-761989) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the European Commission. The
information in this document is provided “as is”, and no guarantee or warranty is given
that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The reader uses the information at
his/her sole risk and liability.

Copyright © 2017-2018 the 5G-PHOS Consortium. All rights reserved. This document may not be
copied, reproduced or modified in whole or in part for any purpose without written permission from
the 5G-PHOS Consortium. In addition to such written permission to copy, reproduce or modify this
document in whole or part, an acknowledgement of the authors of the document and all applicable
portions of the copyright notice must be clearly referenced.

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Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 5

ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 7
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 8
2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 10
2.1 PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT ................................................................................................................................ 10
2.2 DOCUMENT STRUCTURE .......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3 AUDIENCE .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
3. MMWAVE MASSIVE MIMO ANTENNA RATIONALE ................................................................ 12
3.1 MMWAVE SPECTRUM AND SUITABILITY FOR HIGH DENSITY CELLULAR COVERAGE SCENARIOS ................. 12
3.2 60GHZ MMWAVE SPECTRUM ................................................................................................................................ 13
3.3 MASSIVE MIMO ANTENNA AND SUITABILITY FOR HIGH DENSITY CELLULAR COVERAGE SCENARIOS ....... 16
4. BLOCK DIAGRAM OF ANTENNA AND COMPONENTS............................................................. 19
4.1 TOP LEVEL BLOCK DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................................... 19
4.2 TILE PCB BLOCK DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................................... 20
4.3 TILE FEED PCB BLOCK DIAGRAM ....................................................................................................................... 21
4.4 MIMO PCB BLOCK DIAGRAM................................................................................................................................. 22
4.5 SPLIT PCB BLOCK DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................................. 23
4.6 TILE CONTROLLER PCB BLOCK DIAGRAM ............................................................................................................ 24
4.7 60GHZ NARROW-BAND TRANS-IMPEDANCE AMPLIFIERS (NB-TIAS)........................................................... 25
4.8 MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 26
5. DETAILED DESIGN OF ANTENNA AND COMPONENTS .......................................................... 27
5.1 TILE PCB DETAILED DESIGN ................................................................................................................................. 27
5.1.1 Design considerations ......................................................................................................................................... 27
5.1.2 Layout ........................................................................................................................................................................ 28
5.2 TILE FEED PCB DETAILED DESIGN ..................................................................................................................... 29
5.2.1 Design considerations ......................................................................................................................................... 29
5.2.2 TX chain ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29
5.2.3 RX chain..................................................................................................................................................................... 30
5.2.4 Layout ........................................................................................................................................................................ 30
5.2.5 DC section ................................................................................................................................................................. 31
5.2.6 Triplexer and filters ............................................................................................................................................. 32
5.3 MIMO PCB DETAILED DESIGN .............................................................................................................................. 35
5.4 SPLIT PCB DETAILED DESIGN............................................................................................................................... 35
5.5 TILE CONTROLLER DETAILED DESIGN ................................................................................................................. 37
5.5.1 Design considerations ......................................................................................................................................... 37
5.5.2 Layout ........................................................................................................................................................................ 37
5.6 NB-TIA DETAILED DESIGN ..................................................................................................................................... 37
5.6.1 Design considerations ......................................................................................................................................... 37
5.6.2 Layout Design ......................................................................................................................................................... 40
6. FIBER-CONNECTED FRONTHAUL LINKS WITH MMWAVE ANTENNA SYSTEMS AND
INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCIES ................................................................................................................. 44
6.1 DEMODULATOR COMPONENT AND EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ............................................................................... 44
6.2 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................ 46
6.2.1 Baudrate study ....................................................................................................................................................... 46

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6.2.2 Fiber length study ................................................................................................................................................. 46

6.2.3 Pulse shaping filter study .................................................................................................................................. 47
6.2.4 Higher Modulation format ............................................................................................................................... 48
7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 49
8. REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................ 50

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Abbreviations

BB Base Band

BS Base Station

BW Bandwidth

DC Direct Current

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

GUI Graphical User Interface

IC Integrated Circuit

ITU International Telecommunication Union

LO Local Oscillator

LTCC Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

MUX Multiplexer

NB Narrow Band

OBFN Optical Beam Forming Network

PA Power Amplifier

PC Personal Computer

PCB Printed Circuit Board

RFIC Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit

RRH Remote Radio Head

RF Radio Frequency

SDN Software Defined Network

SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

SPI Serial Peripheral Interface

TDD Time Division Duplex

TIA Trans-Impedance Amplifier

USB Universal Serial Bus

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1. Executive Summary
This deliverable describes the first design of a 64x64 MIMO antenna mmWave circuits. It
reviews the concept of a massive MIMO antenna, specifically one operating in the 60GHz
mmWave band, and its suitability for high density cellular communication. It then
proceeds to the reviewing of the entire system block diagram, which consists of modular
radiating tiles concentrated together using a platform consisting of several PCBs (TILE
FEED PCB, MIMO PCB, SPLIT PCB and Tile controller). The system block diagram also
specifies the detailed interfaces between these blocks and the connection with the optical
processing block.
Following the block diagram, detailed design information, as well as design
considerations are provided for the system blocks, PCBs and radiating elements. For
many of the blocks where simulation results are available, such results are presented.
An experimental performance evaluation of the Analog-Radio over Fiber (A-RoF) optical
data transmission on Intermediate Frequencies over Fiber (IFoF) and subsequent
demodulation of the I/Q signal constituents is described for the interfacing of the optical
fiber-fronthaul data stream with the analog electronic mixers of the mmWave antenna.
The deliverable also summarizes the block diagram and detailed design information for
the Narrowband Trans-Impedance Amplifiers (NB-TIA), which support the option for
direct conversion of a mmWave-modulated optical signal to an electrical one.

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2. Introduction

2.1 Purpose of this document

This document contains the results of the activities performed in WP3 “Antenna Design
and RF Electronic Technology” in the project period M1-M12, targeting the Design and
Development of mmWave Circuits and Systems, and their interfacing with fiber-optical A-
RoF links. The focus of this activity was the design of a massive MIMO 64x64 mmWave
antenna. The initial block diagrams and specifications of this antenna have already been
presented in D2.2 “Initial Design of 5G-PHOS Flexbox and RRH system architecture and
component specifications including resource allocation and SDN functions”. This
deliverable will expand on the motivations for the antenna design and provide the
detailed design for the blocks comprising the antenna.

2.2 Document structure

The present deliverable is split into 6 chapters, with chapters 3-6 being the document’s
core:
 Chapter 3: It describes the mmWave massive MIMO antenna principles and
suitability for high density cellular coverage scenarios.
 Chapter 4: It presents and elaborates on the block diagram of mmWave antenna and
associated photonics.
 Chapter 5: It presents the detailed design of antenna blocks.
 Chapter 6: It presents an experimental evaluation of the optical interfacing and
demodulation of A-RoF signals transported by IFoF.
 Chapter 7: Presents the summary and conclusions of this deliverable.

2.3 Audience
This document is internal to the 5G-PHOS project consortium.

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3. mmWave massive MIMO antenna rationale

This section explains the rationale behind the choice of mmWave spectrum and massive
MIMO technology to support high density wireless cellular access coverage.

3.1 mmWave spectrum and suitability for high density

cellular coverage scenarios
When considering a cellular network architecture, the throughput it may support given a
certain mobile terminal density is derived from the throughput supported by a single
base-station (BS) sector multiplied by the number of BS sectors per unit area. As the
cellular networks evolved from the voice-centric 2G to the data-centric 3G and 4G, the
network capacity has increased from generation to generation by enhancing the single BS
sector capacity.
The BS sector throughput increases from one cellular network generation to the next
generation by any of the following methods:
 Improving modulation formats: using higher order modulations, which are more
spectrally efficient.
 Adding multiple spatial streams with MIMO: using antennas operating in parallel
to transmit multiple data streams in the same time/frequency resource.
 Increasing the channel bandwidth: using wider frequency channels in higher
frequency bands.
However, these approaches have their limitations, namely:
 Improving modulation formats: this is ultimately limited by the required receiver
SNR in the typically interference-limited environment in which the network
operates. Higher-order modulations also require favorable wireless channel
conditions, which may not always occur.
 Adding multiple spatial streams with MIMO: this is ultimately limited by the
number of antenna elements that can be practically incorporated in the mobile
device. In practice, it might also increase the SNR required by the modulation,
depending on propagation conditions
 Increasing the channel bandwidth: This approach is limited by the availability of
new or unused spectrum.

While all points above are quite effective in improving the BS sector throughput, the first
two points have mostly reached a point at which further improvement will have marginal
benefit on throughput in practical operation scenarios for traditional cellular spectrum
below 5GHz. The third point, however, is very promising, as channel bandwidth could be
increased by more than 10X by transitioning from frequencies below 5GHz to mmWave
frequencies in which spectrum is abundant. This transition to higher frequencies also
facilitates the second point (i.e. MIMO), since the increase in frequency enables the
antenna size to shrink by the same factor and significantly increases the number of
antennas that can possibly be integrated.

The second factor determining the cellular network capacity is the BS sector density. BS
sector density can be improved by increasing the density of BS sites and also by
increasing the number of BS sectors per BS site. Indeed, as cellular networks evolved,
the distance between the BSs in urban areas, where high capacity is required, has
decreased over the years from distances of >1000m to an order of 300m, currently.
Additionally, several BSs operating at different bands will typically be collocated at the

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same site. The number of antennas per BS is typically set to 3 (i.e. 3 120 BS sectors).
Increasing the number of BS sectors per site (for BS operating in the same frequency
band) is limited by the fact that these sectors will interfere with each other if they use
the same frequency channel. The latter is typical in the recent cellular standards, which
aim towards a frequency reuse factor of 1.
The conclusion from the above is that increasing the capacity of the cellular network in
future cellular standards might become hard, if not impossible, as most of the
approaches that have been used in the past towards increasing the capacity seem to be
have reached a plateau. Fortunately, use of advanced photonics technology with massive
MIMO antennas and mmWave spectrum can provide another significant boost to cellular
network capacity.
Utilizing mmWave spectrum for cellular access has significant advantages in terms of
spectrum availability and reuse capability. Naturally, when using higher frequencies,
more spectrum is available, so that just by transitioning from operation at bands near
2GHz to bands near 60GHz, a factor of 30X in the available spectrum resource may be
gained. The size of the antenna elements at mmWave frequencies becomes much smaller
compared to that in frequencies below 5GHz, thus allowing us to pack large arrays of
antenna elements in a small space and enabling high order MIMO and beam-
forming/phased-array antennas. The benefit of deploying high order MIMO schemes on
the achievable capacity is evident when comparing to already existing wireless standards.
The use of beamforming has great potential for increasing the capacity of the system, as
beams directed towards the intended user focus the radio energy in the desired direction,
thus increasing the signal level on the intended user and decreasing the interference
level at unintended users. The use of beamforming enables the transmission of different
data to different recipients at the same time, thus practically enabling the increase of the
network capacity by a factor equal to the number of beams deployed in parallel.

3.2 60GHz mmWave spectrum

While every frequency above 30GHz may be formally classified as a mmWave frequency,
the choice of a suitable frequency band to support high density cellular access depends
also on the availability of frequency bands dedicated to radio communication, their size,
fragmentation, use of neighboring bands and other practical considerations. The 60GHz
band stands out as a wide contiguous band stretching from 57 GHz to 64GHz and being
available in many counties across the globe. This band has been recently acknowledged
by several regulators as an important band for the future of 5G communications, and has
even been extended in some countries with 7GHz of additional spectrum to span from
57-71GHz.
The main limitation of mmWave technology entails the mmWave propagation being
susceptible to rain, and in the band of 60GHz, Oxygen-induced attenuation as well. Since
the size of raindrops is comparable to the wavelength of the mmWave signal, rain tends
to scatter the radiated wave and attenuate the mmWave signal. The level of attenuation
is proportional to the rain rate, and to the distance traversed under rain conditions. The
effect of rainfall may be expressed as a probability that the link attenuation exceeds
certain thresholds. This probability depends on the specific rainfall pattern (which has
been classified by the ITU into distinct “rain zones” spanning the globe), and translates to
a limitation on the maximum link range, which is imposed to ensure that a certain
reliability requirement is met. Typical figures for rain-induced attenuation can be seen at
Fig. 1 below.

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Fig. 1. Attenuation by rain at mmWave frequencies based on ITU-R P.838-3.

In addition to the rain attenuation there is absorption by other agents, primarily
absorption by oxygen, which peaks at 60GHz and reaches a peak of 15dB per Km, but
goes down to around 1dB/Km at 66GHz. Fig. 2 below shows the absorption by Oxygen,
water vapor and fog at mmWave frequencies.

Fig. 2. Attenuation by Oxygen, water vapor and fog at mmWave frequencies [1].

Considering all the factors that impact mmWave propagation, typical mmWave link
ranges can be calculated based on expected availability (which is derived from the
probability that rain rate exceeds a certain threshold, e.g. considering rain zone-E data
shown in Fig. 3 below, 99% availability means that we consider as unavailable the 1% of
the time in which the rain rate exceeds the threshold of 0.6mm/h, likewise, 99.99%
availability means that we consider as unavailable the 0.01% of the time in which the
rain rate exceeds the threshold of 22mm/h). The tables below show operation at 64GHz

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and 60GHz, which approximately represent the minimal and maximal Oxygen absorption
within the 57-64GHz band. The example of typical range limitations calculations is based
on a typical 26cm diameter dish antenna used in this band and operation over a 500MHz
channel using 5dBm of transmit power.

Fig. 3. Link range and availability under various rain conditions at 64GHz.

Fig. 4. Link range and availability under various rain conditions at 60GHz.

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The rain zone map which is used in conjunction with such tables to determine the link
range is shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Western Europe rain zone map.

In order to alleviate the variation in link attenuation, mmWave equipment may deploy a
rate-adaptation algorithm, which would modify the bandwidth, code rate and modulation
used over the air interface in order to increase transmission robustness at the cost of
transmission throughput. As demonstrated in the table above, the link in this band may
retain connectivity for distances greater than about 1.4Km even under the worst weather
and propagation conditions met in European rain zones.

3.3 Massive MIMO antenna and suitability for high

density cellular coverage scenarios
Massive MIMO antenna technology utilizes large arrays of antenna elements to operate
one or more steered beams. As such, we will use interchangeably the terms ‘beam-
steering’ and ‘massive-MIMO’ with the understanding that when discussing beam-
steering, there may be more than one beam operating in parallel using the same antenna
array.
Beam-steering is the capability to direct the electromagnetic wave radiated/received
from/to an antenna to a desired direction. There are various performance-related
parameters associated with beam-steering, which are summarized in Table 1 below.

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Table 1: Beam-steering antenna performance parameters

Parameter Description
The angular range (azimuth and elevation) across which the
Steering range
beam can be steered
Gain angular variation The variation in the gain of the antenna across is steering
range
Steering resolution The resolution by which the beam can be steered to a desired
direction within the steering range
Beam directivity The directivity of the beam when steered to a specific direction
Spurious side lobe The level of spurious side lobes generated by the steering
level operation
Antenna pattern The size of the widest chunk of spectrum which could be
coherence bandwidth steered simultaneously to the same direction
RF power efficiency The portion of the power that is injected to the antenna and is
eventually radiated
Steering speed The time duration it takes to change the beam direction
Physical dimension Physical size of the antenna (typically as compared to the
wavelength)
Architectural impacts Impacts of the antenna on the overall system design
Ease of construction The complexity of commercially manufacturing the antenna

Over the years, a large variety of techniques have been proposed to perform beam-
steering, however, here we shall focus in the method used for the 5G-PHOS project,
which is commonly referred to as beamforming.
Beamforming is probably the best known beam-steering method. The method is based on
the usage of an array of radiating elements which are fed by the signal to radiate, but
each element receives the signal at a specific power and phase, such that the combined
radiation from all array elements generates a coherent wave front at the desired
direction of propagation. The control of each individual radiating element’s amplitude and
phase can be performed either at baseband, IF or RF, and results in different complexity
of implementation and different performances ([2], [3]). Although multiple theoretical
techniques are available for “synthesizing” antenna patterns by selecting proper phase
and amplitude taper profiles [4], these techniques typically ignore physical hardware
constraints or assume ideal circuit models, making their actual implementation non-
trivial.
The large number of radiating elements in a massive MIMO antenna (which does not lead
to excessive antenna sizes in mmWave frequencies) also allows the combination of
beam-steering with traditional MIMO spatial multiplexing [5], the latter being introduced
for frequencies below 6GHz (and already incorporated into LTE, LTE-Advanced). It is,
perhaps, unfortunate that traditional MIMO signal processing is also sometimes referred
to as “beamforming” by the communications community; it should be emphasized that
the traditional MIMO “beamforming” used to create multiple spatial streams and the
“beamforming” beam-steering method (via power, phase variations) mentioned in the
previous paragraph are distinct methods, based on different types of signal processing
and serving different purposes. However, these methods can co-exist in actual mmWave
implementations, in which case the general term “beamforming” is used to refer to them.
Different beamforming system architectures (analog, digital, hybrid [6], [7]), depending

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on the number of available RF chains, precoder blocks and number of spatial streams
have been proposed, and their performance/complexity tradeoff investigated [8].
Table 2 describes the antenna performance parameters for beamforming at mmWave
frequencies.

Table 2: Beamforming method performance parameters

Parameter Description
Assuming an array composed of identical elements, the
steering range is defined by the radiation power envelope of
the radiating element. Typical radiation elements (patches,
Steering range
dipoles, slots) can easily reach steering range in excess of 90.
Steering range in excess of 180 would typically require
arranging the elements on a non-planar surface
Gain angular variation Typically follows the radiation power envelope of the radiating
element
Steering resolution Derived from the resolution of controlling the radiating
elements phase
Beam directivity Assuming equal power at the radiating elements, it is roughly
proportional to 10log10(N) where N is the number of radiating
elements
Spurious side lobe level Strongly depends on the number of radiating elements as well
as the distance between them and the power tapering applied
to the elements
Antenna pattern Depends on the way the phase differences are implemented.
coherence bandwidth When implemented by true time delay the bandwidth is
limited by the bandwidth of the radiating elements
RF power efficiency Potentially very high, depending on the exact implementation.
Power may be lost in the feeding network, especially if split
multiple times. In case of using multiple power amplifiers to
reduce the amount of power, splitting loss may be low
Steering speed As fast as the power and phase to the radiating elements can
be varied. Typically in mmWave implementations that would
be within nanoseconds
Physical dimension May be very compact. Typical radiating element distance is
/2 which is 2.5mm at 60GHz, so an array of 4x8 elements
yielding about 25dBi gain would roughly be 20mm x 10mm in
size
Architectural impacts In mmWave implementations, radiating elements are typically
fed by a dedicated PA. This enables radiating significantly
more power than a single PA serving all elements.
Ease of construction Radiation directly from a mmWave chip is hard to implement
due to the size of the chip as compared to the size of the
array. Typically, the radiating elements are implemented as
part of the package, facilitating tight integration between the
chip and the radiating elements. Loss and phase errors in the
feeding network should be carefully observed

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4. Block diagram of antenna and components

This section provides an overview of the structure of the antenna at the block diagram
level.

4.1 Top level block diagram

The system concept of the 64x64 antenna targets a high level of modularity in both the
electronic and physical construction of the architecture. The flexibility is intended to allow
achieving a balance between performance and cost in a variety of scenarios. The
architecture uses modular building blocks that allow for arrays to be produced in various
sizes and physical arrangements, so as to enable the tailoring of performance desired
from the antenna at various network scenarios.
The block diagram shown in Fig. 6 shows the blocks of the 64x64 antenna in its full blown
mode supporting up to 16 MIMO PCBs (see Fig. 8 for an explanation of the MIMO PCB’s
components).

Master
SPLIT 16X1
PCB OBFN

To FlexBox

RF wave-front
(
beam ) at 60GHz

Frequency
Tile CTRL
Generator
Up to 16 x MIMO PCB

Fig. 6. 64x64 antenna top level block diagram.

The system, however, is flexible and a variable number of MIMO PCBs may be connected
to support various data rates and parallel beam combinations. Note that each MIMO PCB
is dedicated to one direction of transmission in order to ensure possibility of FDD
operation with adequate separation between the TX and RX channels, so a minimum
system implementation would require to have two MIMO PCBs. Fig. 7 below shows the
modular structure of the antenna as it connects to the FlexBox, being able to support a
variable number of beams and data rates.

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Master Master
OBFN OBFN

MIMO
2x
MIMO MIMO
PCB
MIMO MIMO
PCB MIMO
PCB
PCB
PCB MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
Up to
MIMO
PCB
16 x MIMO
PCB
FlexBox FlexBox
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
PCB
MIMO
16 x mmwave BLOCK
PCB
MIMO
PCB
PCB

Fig. 7. 64x64 antenna modular structure (up to 400Gbps when fully loaded)

The MIMO PCB is composed of several sub-blocks whose names are shown in Fig. 8
below.

mmwave BLOCK

8x TILE
Optical 8X1
TILE FEED
convert OBFN
PCB PCB

To
SPLIT
PCB

MIMO PCB

Fig. 8. MIMO PCB block diagram.

The basic building block is the TILE PCB which contains the basic mmWave array. Eight
TILE PCB units are fed by one TILE FEED PCB, which is responsible for multiplexing the
data, control and frequency reference signals together and allocating them to each tile.
The TILE FEED PCB and the 8 TILE PCB units jointly compose one mmWave block. The
SPLIT PCB can support up to 16 such mmWave blocks and provides them with the control
and frequency reference signals. The data signals come from the optical conversion
block, which is connected to the 8x1 OBFN block responsible for phase shifting of the
incoming optical data signals in order to control the array’s beam pointing direction.

4.2 TILE PCB block diagram

The TILE PCB is the basic antenna module of the system and is duplicated many times in
order to generate the massive MIMO array. Therefore, the key requirements for this PCB
are modularity and low cost. Modularity translates to:

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 Ability to cover all the requirements with one type of PCB.

 Flexibility to use different mechanical constructions to assemble arrays with
various desired performances.
The block diagram in Fig. 9 below shows the structure of the TILE PCB, which consists of
an up/down converter that splits the input IF channel into the antenna elements, and
also accommodates the antenna radiating elements themselves.

RFIC

LO

32 x IF
channels
cable
MUX

PA Control

T/R Phase splitter

Antenna SW LNA shift

Fig. 9. TILE PCB block diagram.

Table 3 summarizes the key design goals for the TILE PCB.

Table 3: TILE PCB design goals

Parameter Design goal
Number of antenna elements 32
Channel output power 0 dBm
Frequency range 57-64GHz
Phase control range 0-360, 90 step
IF frequency 14.5 – 16GHz
Antenna element gain 6dBi

4.3 TILE FEED PCB block diagram

The TILE FEED PCB is a concentrator/aggregator for up to 8 TILE PCB units where all
TILE PCBs can be used either in TX mode or all can be used in RX mode. This restriction
is imposed in order to ensure no self-interference at the board level. The TILE FEED PCB
multiplexes the data, various LO and control signals such that each TILE PCB may be fed
using just one signal wire to ease the mechanical assembly of the PCBs onto the antenna
module. The block diagram of the TILE FEED PCB is shown in Fig. 10 below.

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LO1

DATA#0

TILE LO2
Triplexer
PCB

MUX CTRL
8:1

CFG
8 tiles

DATA#7

TILE
Triplexer
PCB

TILE FEED PCB

Fig. 10. TILE FEED PCB block diagram.

Table 4 below summarizes the characteristics and signals of the TILE FEED PCB.

Table 4: TILE FEED PCB characteristics and signals

Parameter Data
Supported TILE PCBs 8 TX or 8 RX
Data signal frequency 5GHz
Data signal BW 2GHz
LO1 frequency 9.5 - 11GHz
LO2 frequency 7.2 – 8GHz
TILE PCB CTRL frequency >300MHz
TILE FEED PCB CFG SPI three wire 5.0V digital signal

The TILE FEED PCB takes care to keep the trace lengths for the relevant LO and data
signals as equal as practically possible so as not to introduce unnecessary phase
differences between TILE PCB units.

4.4 MIMO PCB block diagram

Following the description above, the complete MIMO PCB forms an integration platform to
host the RF and optical PCBs and components/sub-modules. In order to enable low cost
and standard manufacturing, mature fabrication processes and commercially available
connectors will be used. Here, the RF requirements will be considered by using high-
frequency laminates supporting operation up to 60GHz. In order to keep the desired
modularity, the optical converter and OBFN will be integrated and assembled on a carrier
such as silicon, which is further integrated on the MIMO PCB by using standard
microsystem interconnects. The MIMO PCB will further host the dedicated TILE PCBs and
also the TILE FEED PCB. Hence, the design of the MIMO PCB will facilitate the required RF
connectivity between the OBFN followed by the opto-electronic converter and the TILE
PCB to its feeding network. The control signals and bias signals of the converter and the
OBFN will also be routed on the MIMO PCB as shown in the figure Fig. 11 below.

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Optical
input

To SPLIT PCB To Cont roller

Fig. 11 MIMO PCB block diagram.

4.5 SPLIT PCB block diagram

The SPLIT PCB provides common control and LO signal to all the MIMO PCBs and has
provisions to compensate for phase differences. The need for a coherent LO signal for the
entire array is clear. The need to control phase difference is subtler but is required in
order to keep the spatial coherence bandwidth of the antenna array as wide as possible.
In order to provide additional flexibility for the precise control of the delay (in addition to
the cable lengths), the split PCB contains a provision to delay one of the LO signals,
thereby controlling the delay of the entire MIMO PCB it feeds. The SPLIT PCB further
distributes the control and configuration signals for the MIMO PCB units. The block
diagram for the system’s electrical connections is shown in Fig. 12 below. The block
diagram of the SPLIT PCB is shown in Fig. 13.
5GHz, ~2GHz BW, coax
TILE PCB
Data#0
To optical
conversion
5GHz, ~2GHz BW, coax
Data#7
8 tiles

CFG
CTRL
LO2 in
TILE FEED
TILE PCB
PCB LO1 in

5GHz, ~2GHz BW, coax

TILE PCB
Data#0
To optical
conversion
5GHz, ~2GHz BW, coax
Data#7
8 tiles

CFG
CTRL
LO2 in
TILE FEED
TILE PCB
PCB LO1 in

CFG
#0 #15
CTRL
Tile controller
7.8GHz (LO2)

10GHz (LO1) Bench signal

SPLIT PCB generator

Fig. 12. TILE SPLIT PCB electrical connections.

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X16
X16 X16 X16
LO1 _T
LO2_T CTRL_T CFG_T
TX,RX
outputs I/O outputs
outputs

Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase
shift
shiftPhase
shift
shiftPhase
Phase
shiftPhase
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift
shift x16

X16
MUX
logic buffers for
Split Split 16:1
SPI interface
Split

CFG_C

CTRL_C

SPLIT 7.8GHz (LO2_C)

PCB 10GHz (LO1_C), TX/RX

Fig. 13. SPLIT PCB block diagram.

Table 5 below summarizes the characteristics and signals of the SPLIT PCB.

Table 5: TILE FEED PCB characteristics and signals

Parameter Data
Supported TILE FEED PCBs 16
LO1 frequency 9.5 - 11GHz
LO2 frequency 7.2 – 8GHz
TILE PCB CTRL frequency >300MHz
TILE FEED PCB CFG (in) SPI three wire 5.0V digital signal
TILE FEED PCB CFG (out) SPI three wire 5.0V digital signal

4.6 Tile controller PCB block diagram

The tile controller is responsible for generation of the LO2, control configuration signals.
These signals are generated based on commands received from a desktop PC with a GUI
interface which contains the RFIC generating the analog LO and control signals on a PCI
card and locally generates the digital configuration over USB. The tile controller PCB
shown in Fig. 14 below de-multiplexes the LO and control signal and generates the
configuration signal in SPI format.

Tile controller PCB

Desktop PC
USB USB to CFG
SPI

CTRL
PCI card Multiplexed
LO/CTRL
with BB Diplexer
RFIC LO2

Fig. 14. Tile controller PCB block diagram.

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Table 6 below summarizes the characteristics and signals of the SPLIT PCB.
Table 6: TILE controller PCB characteristics signals
Parameter Data
LO2 frequency 7.2 – 8GHz
CTRL frequency >300MHz
CFG signal SPI three wire 5.0V digital signal
Multiplexed LO/CTRL Analog, DC – 8GHz
USB USB 5V digital signal

4.7 60GHz narrow-band trans-impedance amplifiers (NB-

TIAs)
To minimize the power consumption and signal processing in the RRHs, the concept of
narrow-band trans-impedance amplifiers (TIA) at mmWave frequencies will be explored.
To alleviate the need for up-conversion in the RRH, the radio signal, modulated at 60
GHz, will be transported over fiber. However, traditional optical receivers are designed to
operate on broadband data communication signals. Especially the TIA, which amplifies
the received photocurrent, requires high power consumption to simultaneously ensure
linear and low-noise operation while maintaining a very wideband operation. In contrast,
the narrowband-TIA concept takes the narrow-band signal properties into account (Fig.
15): only a narrow bandwidth around 60 GHz needs to be received and amplified. As
such, this concept can provide much lower power consumption for similar linearity and
signal-to-noise ratio specifications.

Fig. 15. The proposed narrowband TIA and conceptual comparison of

conventional broadband TIA and narrowband TIA.
To maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, two important optimizations should be performed:
 The extracted power generated by the optical signal on the photodiode should be
maximized.
 The noise of the TIA should be reduced as much as possible.
The narrow-band TIA will be designed to perform optimally in combination with the
photo-diodes designed by III-V Lab. As shown in Table 7, the initial target specifications
will be achieving a noise figure lower than 4 dB, a gain around 20 dB, and an output 1dB
compression point of +4 dBm driven into a 50Ω load.
This device will be assembled together with the provided photo-diodes and can directly
drive an antenna which will be employed in the 100Gb/s RRH module.

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Table 7: Initial target specifications of the NB-TIA

Spec. Symbol Targeted value

Center Frequency fc 60 GHz
Frequency Band fB 7 GHz
Noise Figure NF < 4 dB
Gain G 20 dB
Output 1dB Compression Point P1dB,out > 4 dBm

4.8 Mechanical construction

The 3D construction of the 64x64 antenna aims towards making the design compact yet
flexible. The PCB board directions may vary from what is shown in Fig. 16 below. The
main feature of the design is that the antennas are connected by short coax cables which
provide flexibility in the position and arrangement of the antenna tiles. This enables
varying the array construction as well as catering for isolation between TX and RX arrays.
The mechanical cage might need some fans for cooling, which are not depicted.

Optics PCB
vertical option

SPLIT PCB
vertical option
TILE FEED
PCB
TILE FEED
PCB

TILE FEED
tiles PCB

horizontal
option

Fig. 16. Mechanical construction concept.

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5. Detailed design of antenna and components

5.1 TILE PCB detailed design

5.1.1 Design considerations

The tile PCB design consists of the antenna elements, and the RFIC (QCA6310 from
Qualcomm) for converting the IF input to RF and a DC block. The RFIC splits the RF
signal into 32 channels, where each channel goes to a dedicated antenna element. The IF
signal also packs the LO signals and control information for configuring the channels,
where each channel may be assigned a phase shift of 0/90/180/270 to control the
beam direction generated by the array.
Because of the extremely high frequency of operation, the handling of the RF signal on
the substrate holding the RFIC needs to be very careful as it is easy to introduce losses
and mismatch. Consequently, the substrate chosen for implementation is based on
ceramics rather than soft laminate material and belongs to the LTCC family (Low
Temperature Co-fired Ceramic). The LTCC laminate has the advantage of low losses at
60GHz, as well as rigidity, homogeneity and temperature stability which guarantees a
consistent dielectric constant over temperature and across the substrate. This
consistency is key to keeping a good match between the radiating elements and the RFIC
despite the different routing to each radiating element.
The radiating elements are dipoles and they are designed to be broadband enough to
cover the band of 57-64GHz. Fig. 17-Fig. 20 below show the dipole configuration as well as
the simulated radiation pattern from it.

Fig. 17. Dipole radiating element on LTCC substrate.

Fig. 18. Simulated element radiation pattern in 3D.

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Fig. 19. Simulated element radiation pattern – azimuth.

Fig. 20. Simulated element radiation pattern – elevation.

5.1.2 Layout
The TILE PCB is responsible for combining multiple radiating elements into a large array.
The arrangement of the elements themselves in the tile level determines the tile’s
capability and the packing of multiple tiles together determines the array capability.
Regarding the array packing consideration, the target is to make the tile as small as
possible, so that tiles can be packed close together thus minimizing array grating lobes.
However, since the tile holds also ICs for RF and DC and needs some mechanical support
as well as provisioning for heat dissipation, some area must be allocated for these needs
as well, thus setting some additional consideration for the size of the tile.
The TILE PCB layout and dimensions are shown in Fig. 21 below.

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30mm

16.75mm

Fig. 21. TILE PCB layout and dimensions.

The dipoles with the feeding line are shown in Fig. 22 below.

Fig. 22. TILE PCB front (radiating elements) and back (feeding wires).

5.2 TILE FEED PCB detailed design

5.2.1 Design considerations

The TILE FEED PCB has in-fact two variants, one to support the TX direction and the
other to support the RX direction. Each one of these variants contains 8 transmission
chains where each chain supports one TILE PCB. The role of the transmission chains is
primarily to adapt the signal frequency as well as signal power to the requirements of the
signal source and destination at the end of the transmission chain.

5.2.2 TX chain
The TX chain block diagram is shown in Fig. 23 below with signal levels noted (in dBm,
unless noted otherwise) along the transmission chains. The different chains are each
marked with a different color and are all merged to one after the triplexer block. The
data signal is coming in around a 5GHz carrier and up-converted to around 15GHz IF
frequency (the exact frequency is the RF frequency divided by 4). The LO frequency is
around 7.5GHz (the exact frequency is the IF frequency divided by 2). There is a splitter
for each LO that splits it 8 to 1 (for the 8 chains), and likewise an 8 to 1 multiplexer for
the control signal.

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LO1-AMP
LO1-split
LO1
15 25 0-3
DATA#0 (TX)
-15..-13 -7..0 0
To 32-tile Triplexer
-17
-18 -7 LO2
-18 -3 - 0
0.5Vpp LO2-split
MUX 0.5Vpp CTRL
8:1

CFG
3.3V

Fig. 23. TX chain detailed block diagram.

5.2.3 RX chain
The RX chain is very similar to the TX chain except that it requires significantly more
amplification. Its block diagram is shown in Fig. 24 below with signal levels noted (in
dBm, unless noted otherwise) along the receive chains. The different chains are each
marked with a different color and are all merged to one after the triplexer block. The
data signal is coming at the IF frequency around 15GHz (the exact frequency is the RF
frequency divided by 4) and down-converted to 5GHz. The LO frequency is around
7.5GHz (the exact frequency is the IF frequency divided by 2). There is a splitter for each
LO that splits it 8 to 1 (for the 8 chains), and likewise an 8 to 1 multiplexer for the
control signal. The RX signal comes in considerably weaker than the TX signal, so there is
a need for about 45dB of amplification to restore it to the level desired by the optical
card. A passive attenuation pad is also provided in order to tune the gain more closely if
such a need arises. The RX chain also requires a filter to block the undesired outputs of
the mixer from getting to the output (in the TX chain, the same function is performed by
the triplexer).
LO1-AMP
LO1-split
LO1
15 25 0-3
RX-AMP (45dB)
DATA#0 (RX)
-22..-25 -31..-39 -1..+9 0-4
ATTN
from 32-tile Triplexer
-17
-20 -7 LO2
-3 - 0
LO2-split
MUX 0.5Vpp CTRL
8:1

CFG
3.3V

Fig. 24. TX chain detailed block diagram.

5.2.4 Layout
The annotated layout for the TX chain is shown in Fig. 25 below.

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Triplexer

LO1 signal
from LO1
splitter

Input
signal
Mixer
DC generation
block

Fig. 25. TX chain annotated layout.

The layout for the TX chain is shown in Fig. 26 below.

DC generation
Output block
signal

RX filter
Amplification chain (3 x 15dB)
Mixer

LO1 signal
from LO1
Triplexer
splitter

Fig. 26. RX chain annotated layout.

5.2.5 DC section
The DC section of the PCB is designed to feed the RF chains and the Tile PCB. It is
protected against polarity reversal and regulated. It is recommended to work with a 6.5V
voltage source. The relevant schematic is shown in Fig. 27 below.

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POWER:
10GHz AMPs: 5v* 0.220A=1.1W
5GHz AMPs: 12* 0.057A* 5v=3.42W
TILE PCBs =8* 3.3* 0.6=15.84W
Tot: ~21W

Fig. 27. DC section schematics.

5.2.6 Triplexer and filters

The triplexer consists of two microwave diplexers, each which consists of two filters, that
operate to multiplex the data, LO and control signal all one feeding wire. The first
diplexer is shown in Fig. 28 below. The diplexer uses mostly transmission lines and one
capacitor and multiplexes between LO2 (around 7.5GHz) and the control signal (DC to a
few hundred MHz).

Port 1
CAP

(LO2) Port 2
(MUXED)

Port 3
(CTRL)

Fig. 28. Diplexer for LO2 and CTRL signals.

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The simulated performance for the first diplexer is shown in Fig. 29 below.

S21 transmission of diplexer

(~0.7dB loss)

S23 transmission of diplexer

(maximum 1dB loss at 1GHz)

Fig. 29. Simulated performance for diplexer between LO2 and CTRL signals.

The second diplexer is more complicated and consists of two microwave printed filters.
This diplexer multiplexes the output of the first diplexer (roughly DC to 8GHz) with the IF
signal (around 15GHz). The diplexer layout is shown in Fig. 30 below.

Port 1 Port 2
(LO2 + CTRL) (MUXED)

Port 3
(LO1)

Fig. 30. Diplexer for LO1 and LO2+CTRL signals.

The simulated performance for the second diplexer is shown in Fig. 31 below.

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S21 transmission of diplexer (~1dB

loss for LO2, about 0.7dB loss for
CTRL)

S23 transmission of diplexer (~3dB

loss for LO1)

Fig. 31. Simulated performance for diplexer between LO1, LO2+CTRL signals.

The last filter is the RX image rejection filter placed between the mixer and amplifiers in
the RX chain. The mixer is designed to provide rejection starting a little after the desired
pass band which is up to 6GHz. The layout and simulated performance is shown in Fig.
32 and Fig. 33 below.

Port 1 Port 2

Fig. 32. Image rejection filter in RX chain.

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S21 transmission of filter (~0.7dB

loss)

Fig. 33. Simulated performance for image rejection filter.

5.3 MIMO PCB detailed design

As indicated in the previous section, the MIMO PCB will have a modular architecture as
shown in Fig. 16, consisting of the following building blocks: TILE PCB, TILE FEED PCB,
SPLIT PCB and the optics PCB. Regarding the optics PCB, all optical components will be
flip-chip bonded to a silicon submount, which will itself be glued to the MIMO PCB and
wire bonded to the MIMO PCB in order to realize the electrical connections as shown in
Fig. 34. Further Fig. 36details on the design and development of the optical PCB can be
found in deliverable D4.1.

Waveguides
Wire Bond
TripleX
InP
Si Submount

MIMO PCB
Fig. 34. Schematic of the assembly concept for MIMO PCB.

5.4 SPLIT PCB detailed design

The SPLIT PCB splits the LO signal and control signals to drive up the different TILE FEED
PCBs, providing a common control and LO signal to all the MIMO PCBs and has the
means to compensates cable delays. Table 8 lists all input and output signals which are
on the SPLIT PCB, their description, levels as well as the type of connector.

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Table 8: SPLIT PCB signal descriptions, levels and interfaces

Input/
Signal name Description Level Connector
output
LO1_T (TX,RX) LO signal, 9.5-11GHz Output 0 to 3dBm 16 x SMA
LO2_T LO signal, 7.2-8GHz Output -3 to 0dBm 16 x SMA
CTRL_T CTRL signal, 230MHz Bi-Dir 0dBm 16 x SMA
16 x USB type-A
CFG_DATA_T Configuration, SPI data, digital Bi-Dir 5V CMOS
receptacle
16 x USB type-A
CFG_CLK_T Configuration, SPI clock, digital Output 5V CMOS
receptacle
16 x USB type-A
CFG_STB_T Configuration, SPI strobe, digital Output 5V CMOS
receptacle
LO1_C (TX,RX) LO signal, 9.5-11GHz Input configurable 2 x SMA
LO2_C LO signal, 7.2-8GHz Input -3 to 0dBm SMA
CTRL_C CTRL signal, 230MHz Bi-Dir 0dBm SMA
USB type-B
CFG_DATA_C Configuration, SPI data, digital Bi-Dir 5V CMOS
receptacle
USB type-B
CFG_CLK_C Configuration, SPI clock, digital Input 5V CMOS
receptacle
USB type-B
CFG_STB_C Configuration, SPI strobe, digital Input 5V CMOS
receptacle

Fig. 36 shows the SPLIT PCB design which is currently being fabricated. There is an input
LO signal around 10GHz and an input LO signal around 7.8GHz, which are split in 16
outputs for the 16 TILE FEED PCBs so that the entire system uses coherent frequency
sources. It also has one control input signal which is also split in 16 signals for the TILE
FEED PCBs so that only one controller can be used.

Fig. 35. Schematic of the assembly concept for MIMO PCB.

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5.5 TILE controller detailed design

5.5.1 Design considerations

The TILE controller has two main functional blocks, namely the USB-to-SPI converter and
the extraction of control and LO2 signals from the RFIC embedded in the PCI card of the
controlling PC. The extraction of the control signals is performed by a diplexer block
similar to the triplexer that has already been discussed in the context of the TX and RX
chains. The USB-to-SPI conversion block uses the U421 USB interface that intercepts
USB commands coming from the PC and converts them to SPI clock/data/chip-select
interface which is output to the SPLIT PCB. The PCB DC power is fed through the PC USB
interface, or (optionally) via a dedicated connector.

5.5.2 Layout
The annotated layout for the TILE controller is shown in Fig. 36 below.

DC input
PC
signal LO2
input amplifier

Diplexer
Testing block
CTRL output U421 USB converter

Fig. 36. Tile controller annotated layout.

5.6 NB-TIA detailed design

5.6.1 Design considerations

The NB-TIA was designed to integrate with a 60GHz photodiode that will convert the
optical signal to electrical before being fed to the NB-TIA. Hence, it is considered as a
signal source with a real impedance of 12Ω based on preliminary data from III-V Labs.
The output impedance was designed to be 50Ω. The high level block-diagram and the
simplified schematic of the functional circuitry are shown in Fig. 37 and Fig. 38. In the
first-generation design, the NB-TIA has been made with 3 gain stages in cascade to fulfill
the target gain and noise figure specifications (Table 7).

Output
1.6V 1.6V 1.6V Matching
VBias_PD I IBias_2 IBias_3
Bias_1

TIA TIA TIA

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Matching & Matching & Matching &

Biasing (PD & Biasing (stage 2 Biasing (stage 3
stage 1 of TIA) of TIA) of TIA)

Fig. 37. Block-diagram of the NB-TIA.

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Fig. 38. Simplified schematic of the NB-TIA

The simulated characteristics of the RFIC are shown in the figures below. The NB-TIA
RFIC consumes 34.4 mW from a 1.6 V supply while delivering +4 dBm to the load with
amplification and noise figure exceeding specifications and ample matching.

Fig. 39. Simulated gain of the NB-TIA.

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Fig. 40. Simulated noise figure of the NB-TIA.

Fig. 41. Optimum noise input impedance (real part) of the NB-TIA.

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Fig. 42. Simulated input matching of the NB-TIA.

Fig. 43. Simulated output matching of the NB-TIA.

5.6.2 Layout Design

The annotated layout for the NB-TIA is shown in Fig. 44 below. V_PD is the photodiode
bias voltage while V_C is the collector bias voltage for the transistor stages. I_1 to I_3
are bias currents for each individual stage. RF_IN connects to the photodiode while
RF_OUT connects to the antenna. G are ground connections. The total design size is
480µm x 595µm.

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Fig. 44. NB-TIA annotated layout.

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6. Fiber-connected Fronthaul Links with mmWave

Antenna Systems and Intermediate Frequencies
In the 5G-PHOS network architecture, the mmWave antennas will be fiber interconnected
to the centralized FlexBox through fiber lengths of up to 10-20km for typical 5G fronthaul
distances, while the envisioned communication between the antenna and the Flexbox will
utilize A-RoF transport schemes. As such the fronthaul architecture removes every digital
processing unit from the nodes of the fronthaul network, placing the signal processing at
the centralized powerful FlexBox basedband unit box, as shown in Fig. 45, aiming to
simplify the distributed radio units across the topology.
As A-RoF schemes have been selected for spectrally efficient transportation of native
radio signals, the communication between the Remote Radio Head of the antenna and
FlexBox will rely on the use a 5GHz Intermediate Frequency over Fiber (IFoF) and Sub-
Carrier Multiplexed (SCM) radio signals. The interfacing of the developed SIKLU antenna
and mmWave radio boards with the IFoF optical streams will be performed at the Tile
Feed PCB, taking input/output from the Optics PCB, with a series of analog RF mixers
performing up-/down-conversions to the mmWave frequency. Towards evaluating the
performance of the electro-optic conversion of radio signals, the long fiber propagation
and the interfacing of the fiber-connected mmWave antenna with the IFoF optical data
stream, an experimental performance evaluation has been performed for various
operational conditions and fronthaul distances, including 5GHz IFoF optical transmission
and subsequent demodulation of the IF carriers into In-phase/Quandrature-phase (IQ)
baseband data streams, so as to record the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM), the
constellation diagrams and the eye diagrams.

Fig. 45. DSP-assisted Analog Mobile Fronthaul architecture and signal flow, with
orange color indicating the evaluated A-RoF optical transmission and conversion

6.1 Demodulator component and experimental setup

In order to perform an early performance evaluation of the above scheme, an
experimental setup was established to emulate these processes and transmit IFoF data
through typical km-long fiber fronthaul distances. More specifically, for the demodulation
process, a commercially available broadband quandrature I-Q demodulator was
employed. This module covers an RF/IF frequency range from 400MHz to 6GHz offering
excellent demodulation accuracy with amplitude and phase balances of ~0.07 dB and
~0.2° respectively [9]. The nominal demodulation bandwidth of the module is 390MHz
while it can also offers a voltage conversion gain of 7dB. The demodulation process

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requires the use of an external Local Oscillator (LO) at IF frequency. The first stage of
characterization measurements includes the experimental verification of demodulator
process which is presented below. The evaluation performance of I/Q modulator will be
carried out through the use of new broadband analog RF modules that are going to be
integrated within the Flexbox as described in the last part. Fig. 46 shows the I/Q
demodulator module, commercially available from Analog Devices, that was employed in
these experimental measurements. It should be mentioned that the I/Q baseband
outputs were evaluated through the single-ended outputs.

Fig. 46. Commercially available quandrature demodulator operated within the

range of 390MHz – 6GHz.

Fig. 47 illustrates the experimental setup installed in ICCS/NTUA premises to characterize

the performance of IQ demodulator module. The complex modulated carrier was
generated through the use of an Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) allowing for
Digital Upconversion (DUC) of IQ baseband data streams at 5GHz. This modulated IF
carrier was served as the driving signal to a single-drive Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM)
fed with a Continuous Wave (CW) signal at 1550nm as an optical input. Different
baudrates and shaping filters with different roll-off factors were considered to evaluate
the demodulation properties of the analog RF modules. The voltage swing of 1Vp-p of the
AWG output ensures the operation of the MZM at the linear regime since it was biased at
the quandrature point (Vπ/2). The generated IFoF signal was then optically transmitted
through the telecom fiber link (Standard SMF28). Different fiber lengths were adopted to
investigate the role of the fiber impairments on the IQ demodulation process. The
photoreceiver output was then inserted in the IQ demodulator to evaluate the baseband
streams (I&Q) respectively. For the demodulation process, a LO input at 5GHz was
provided from a Signal Generator (SG) with a power level of 0dBm. The output I/Q
streams were then evaluated through a comprehensive set of tools for the demodulation
and vector signal analysis. The constellation diagrams have been generated through the
use of captured baseband I/Q streams for the digital synthesis of their polar
representation. It should be mentioned that the SG was synchronized with the AWG
source via the use of a 10MHz clock signal to minimize the obtained frequency errors at
the receiver side.

Fig. 47. Experimental setup for the measurement on the IQ demodulation

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6.2 Experimental results

6.2.1 Baudrate study

Fig. 48 illustrates the obtained constellation diagrams and the measured EVM values after
detection and IQ demodulation for various baudrates. The modulated IF carrier had an
excess bandwidth of 20% which was achieved by a Root-Raised Cosine (RRC) pulse
shaping filter digitally applied on the AWG at the transmitter side. By changing the
baudrate from 250 Mbd to 750 Mbd, the measured EVM value was increased from 6.5%
to 25% in back-to-back (b2b) fiber configuration. The poor EVM performance for wider
bandwidths was obtained as a result of bandwidth limitation of the I/Q demodulator
which supports up to 390MHz. In case of 250 Mbd and 500Mbd the measured EVM values
are well below the EVM threshold for a QPSK modulated signal specified by 3GPP [10].
In the same figure are also depicted the obtained eye diagrams for the demodulator's In-
phase baseband outputs which have the same quality with the respective one of the
Quadrature outputs. This result verifies the proper IQ demodulation accuracy of the
presented device.

Fig. 48. Constellation diagrams and eye diagrams of the IQ demodulator outputs
in back-to-back configuration for symbol rates of 250Mbuad, 500Mbaud and 750
Mbaud.

6.2.2 Fiber length study

The next step involves the performance evaluation for different fiber links of IFoF
transmission. In this context, Fig. 49 depicts the obtained constellation diagrams and the
respective eye diagrams at the IQ demodulator outputs for the b2b case, for 7-Km long
fiber and 25-Km long fiber. It is evident that the EVM performance becomes slightly
lower by introducing additional fiber lengths. The EVM performance increases from 9.2%
for b2b configuration to 14.1% for the case of 25-km long SMF link. For this type of
measurement, the symbol rate of the transmitted signal was selected to be 500 Mbd
whereas the same pulse shaping conditions were adopted. The EVM performance
degradation is appeared as a result of dispersion induced power fading [11] and of the
additional power loss linked with the fiber transmission.

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Fig. 49. Constellation Constellation diagrams and eye diagrams of the IQ

demodulator outputs by varying the transmission conditions

6.2.3 Pulse shaping filter study

Fig. 50 shows the obtained constellation diagrams in case of varying the roll-off factor of
the RRC pulse shaping filter applied on the transmitter side through the electrical
Intermediate Frequency (IF) data signal generated by the AWG. The increment of the
roll-off factor results in an increase on the measured EVM values from 14% to 8.8%. This
EMV performance degradation is also evident considering the quality of the captured eye
diagrams for the I/Q baseband streams.

Fig. 50. Constellation diagrams and eye diagrams of the IQ demodulator outputs
by varying the roll-off factor of pulse shaping filter

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6.2.4 Higher Modulation format

The last evaluation step focuses on the IQ Demodulator capability to efficiently manage
the QAM-16 complex waveforms at different IF carriers (2GHz and 5GHz). It is evident
that the use of an IF frequency at 5 GHz leads to better results in terms of EVM
performance comparing to the respective ones in case of employing an IF carrier at 2
GHz. Fig. 51 illustrates the generated constellation diagrams for the 16-QAM signals while
the PAM-4 eye diagrams for the I/Q baseband streams are also included. The proper
demodulation performance is evident considering the clear eye-diagrams of the captured
PAM-4 individual I/Q streams.

Fig. 51. Constellation diagrams and eye diagrams of the IQ demodulator outputs
by varying the IF frequency of the modulated carrier

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7. Summary and conclusions

This deliverable describes the first design of the 64x64 MIMO antenna mmWave circuits.
This design is the basis of the manufacturing run for various hardware components that
have been detailed within (TILE FEED PCB, MIMO PCB, SPLIT PCB and Tile controller) as
well as a mechanical structure to integrate them into a flexible massive MIMO antenna.
Finally, an experimental evaluation of the IFoF optical transmission and demodulation of
the I/Q-signal constituents has been performed, to evaluate the performance and signal
quality of the optical interfacing of the fiber-connected mmWave antennas.
In the future, we expect to review the measured performance of the massive MIMO
antenna and of the sub-systems comprising it. Further down the road the antenna is
expected to be integrated with the optical components and the FlexBox to form a
complete end-to-end system.

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8. References
[1] J. Preissner, “The influence of the atmosphere on passive radiometric measurements”,
AGARD Conference on Millimeter and Submillimeter Wave Propagation and Circuits AGARD
Conference reprint 245, (1978).
[2] F. Meng, C. Boon, S. Xu, et al., “Millimeter-wave IC design techniques for beam-forming
applications”, IEEE International Workshop on Electromagnetics: Applications and Student
Innovation Competition (iWEM), 2016.
[3] M. Fakharzadeh, M. R. Nezhad-Ahmadi, B. Biglarbegian, et al., “CMOS Phased Array
Transceiver Technology for 60 GHz Wireless Applications”, IEEE Transactions On Antennas
and Propagation, vol. 58, no. 4, Apr. 2010
[4] C. Balanis, “Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design”, 4th edition, Wiley, 2016.
[5] S. Sun, T. Rappaport, R. Heath et al., “MIMO for Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications:
Beamforming, Spatial Multiplexing, or Both?” IEEE Communications Magazine, December
2016.
[6] W. Roh, J.-Y. Seol, J. Park et al., “Millimeter-Wave Beamforming as an Enabling Technology
for 5G Cellular Communications: Theoretical Feasibility and Prototype Results”, IEEE
Communications Magazine, February 2014.
[7] N. Song, H. Sun and T. Yang, “Coordinated Hybrid Beamforming for Millimeter Wave Multi-
User Massive MIMO Systems”, IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM),
December 2016.
[8] A. Roze, M. Crussiere, M. Helard, C. Langlais, “Comparison between a Hybrid Digital and
Analog Beamforming system and a Fully Digital Massive MIMO System with Adaptive
Beamsteering Receivers in Millimeter-Wave Transmissions”, International Symposium on
Wireless Communications Systems (ISWCS), Sep. 2016.
[9] ADL 5380, Quandrature demodulator from Analog Devices
[10] 3GPP, TS 38.104 V15.0.0, Table 9.6.2.3-1, Dec. 2017
[11] N. Argyris et al., “DSP enabled Fiber-Wireless IFoF/mmWave link for 5G Analog Mobile
Fronthaul”, in Proc. of 2018 IEEE 5G World Forum, 9-11 July 2018, Santa Clara, CA, USA

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