PRFI, a UK-based custom RFICs, MMICs, and microwave/mmWave module specialist, has announced that Richard Cavanagh has been invited to speak at one of this year’s EDICON Online sessions during October, presenting a talk entitled “Automated Gain/Phase Control Measurement and Calibration for Sub-6GHz 5G”.
The presentation will outline an automated test setup used to measure an n78 band (3.3 to 3.8 GHz) 12-bit vector modulator formed of a 6-bit attenuator and 6-bit phase shifter (both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components). Gain and phase control of individual radiating elements is essential for massive MIMO antenna architectures, which are commonly used in sub-6 GHz 5G networks due to their channel capacity benefits. These antennas enable beamforming and beam steering using multiple attenuators and phase shifters to adjust the signals transmitted by each radiating element. Gain and phase control can be implemented with digital or analog technology or a hybrid approach, which attempts to leverage the benefits of both. With analog and hybrid approaches, measurement, characterization, and calibration of these gain/phase control modules are necessary to optimize performance.
A Python program was written to automate the testing of all 4096 possible gain-phase states, to better understand the potential performance of the module. The performance is presented in the n78 band and across a wider 2-7 GHz range. The technical considerations for performing and processing the measurements are outlined and the benefits of post-measurement calibration are demonstrated.
About the Presenter
Richard Cavanagh is a design engineer at PRFI, working on MMIC design and test automation at RF and mmWave frequencies. He received his MEng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 2022 before joining PRFI, where he is currently working on novel HBT power amplifier designs.
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