Digital Radio Front-End Strategies Provide Game Changing Benefits for Small Cell Base Stations

It is no secret that small cell base stations are expected to be a major lifesaver in the wireless data deluge by helping to provide significant capacity gains as part of 3G and 4G wireless heterogeneous networks. While the industry standards and algorithms are mostly in place for these heterogeneous networks to function, power, performance and cost hurdles must be met before small cell base station solutions manifest into practical reality. Base station manufacturers tend to focus their attention on the performance and attributes of the small cell baseband System on Chips (SoCs). The baseband SoC silicon and software does contribute to a significant portion of the small cell solution performance, however the digital radio front end portion of the design can have a substantial impact as well and is often overlooked. This white paper focuses on the digital front end portion of the small cell base station and delves into design factors that play a significant role in achieving the performance and power targets demanded by small cells.