Fujikura, a leading Japanese telecommunications company that is focused on developing highly valued solutions in the field of “Tsunagu (connecting)” technologies, announced FutureAccess™, a highly integrated 28GHz phased array antenna module (PAAM) for 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) infrastructure applications.

The Fujikura PAAM is a fully integrated module consisting of an antenna array, beamforming ICs, frequency conversion ICs and filters. It is the result of Fujikura’s long-term investment in the development of mmWave RFIC modules for different frequency bands. “Millimeter-wave is the future of mobile infrastructure. Fujikura is committed to bringing highly differentiated mmWave RFIC modules to our customers while specifically addressing our customers’ requirements regarding performance, total cost of ownership (TCO), and system level integration.” said Kenji Nishide, Head of Electronic Technologies R&D Center.

The Fujikura PAAM offers industry-leading performance (integration and range) while benefitting our customers through optimal TCO and reduced development time. Unlike many other mmWave RFIC providers, Fujikura, by offering the PAAM, takes care of the system level integration needed to combine the antenna array, beamformer IC, frequency converter IC, and filter. This approach helps 5G mmWave infrastructure customers reduce extremely their system development time. The Fujikura PAAM is suitable for 5G-NR mmWave base stations (gNode B) and distributed radio units in both indoor and outdoor configurations. The Fujikura 28GHz PAAM’s integrated circuits are developed in an advanced SiGe process technology; final PAAM assemblies are created using an “Antenna in Package (AIP)” approach, with future plans including support for wafer level chip scale packaging (WLCP).

The Fujikura PAAM’s key differentiating features include:

• ・wideband operation (24 – 30 GHz) - supporting 3GPP bands n257, n258 and n261
• ・8 × 8 antenna array with each element supporting concurrent dual polarized beams (H & V) for both transmission and reception
• ・128 front ends whose phase and amplitude can be independently controlled to generate flexibly controllable beams
• ・beam steering available up to ±60 degrees both in H & V directions
• ・scalable and modular – tiling up to 1024 elements
• ・allowing calibration-free operation, making installation much easier
• ・maintaining low signal distortion over beam direction and a wide frequency range
• ・new easy-to-use beam-steering control capability supporting ultra-fast access to more than 10,000 beam directions
• ・superior digital reconfigurability allowing flexible trade-off between NF and linearity
• ・optimized for low power consumption and high power efficiency

Fujikura is collaborating with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) on the development of the PAAM (https://www.fujikura.co.jp/eng/newsrelease/products/2058964_11777.html). Some of the latest outcomes of this joint work have been presented as technical papers in conferences and academic journals, e.g., Th3E-1 in the IMS Section and Tu2E-2 in the RFIC Section of the recently- concluded IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2021) held in Atlanta in June 2021.

Working samples will be delivered to early access customers by the end of March, 2022.

For related information, please also visit our specialized website (https://mmwavetech.fujikura.jp/5g/ ).