HCL Technologies presents multi-band mobile backhaul solution

HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global technology company, announced today a new fully configurable, high-throughput mobile backhaul multi-band modem, supporting multiple RF channel transmissions at frequency ranges up to E-Band, jointly developed with Xilinx and powered by the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC platform.

The solution targets 5G mobile backhaul in the mmWave and microwave frequency range, bonded through a single physical link, to improve capacity and reliability. Such links essentially operate like an extended adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) solution and will enable telecom OEMs to meet the stringent requirements of next-generation networks.

Integrated backhaul and access are among the key technologies needed to enable ambitious 5G demands. The 5G radio networks’ increased capacity needs to be supported by faster and wider bandwidth backhaul that incorporates Gigabit Ethernet, optical fibre, or microwave/mmWave wired and wireless point-to-point links.

Xilinx is a leading silicon provider for wireless infrastructure for digital radio front-end, connectivity, baseband acceleration, fronthaul/backhaul modem, and packet processing functions. The programmability and scalability of Xilinx platforms make them an ideal fit for these applications, particularly for radio, where a variety of form factors, frequencies, bandwidths and radio access technologies need to be supported.

HCL’s solutions provide a range of benefits, including keeping/extending the ‘ACM QOS set-up’ mindset, providing more reliability than a standalone E-band link, and allowing more capacity than the lower frequency channel operating independently. Together, the HCL and Xilinx integrated solution will provide a highly configurable backhaul modem on an advanced 16nm FinFET+ technology node that will result in an overall reduction in bill of material (BOM) costs and a significant reduction in power dissipation compared to current solutions.

“5G is still in its infancy, and yet the bandwidth demand is higher than ever,” said Farhad Shafai, Vice-President of Communications Markets, Xilinx. “Building on the market-leading Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC platform, the HCL backhaul modem solution will enable telecommunications OEMs to deliver outstanding flexibility for both E-band and microwave backhaul performance in a single device that is compact, cost-effective and power efficient solution.”

“There is no question that 5G will revolutionise the way we live and work,” said Sukamal Banerjee, Corporate Vice-President, ERS Sales (Hi Tech & Comm), Head, IoT WoRKS, HCL Technologies. “HCL’s Flexible Multi-Band Mobile Backhaul Solution powered by Xilinx’s Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC platform features a complete offering of R&D services provided by HCL. This will enable customers to seamlessly integrate this solution with existing platforms, resulting in significant time-to-market improvements.”