Technical Brief

Empowering the Future of Connectivity: Cadence Technology in 5G/6G Designs and Subsystems

As the world rapidly shifts towards an interconnected future, 5G and 6G technologies are at the forefront of innovation. Cadence is leading this transformation, providing cutting-edge solutions that accelerate the design and development of these revolutionary communication networks.

Cadence’s advanced design tools support evolving 5G and 6G standards and can enhance the performance and efficiency of the technologies. Cadence provides scalable solutions that cater to varying network demands, ranging from small cells to massive MIMO and beyond, ensuring that it can meet the diverse needs of modern networks.

Key Benefits

Benefits of Using Cadence in 5G/6G Development

  • Faster Time to Market: Accelerate design cycles with automated workflows and powerful simulation tools.
  • Enhanced Reliability: Achieve unparalleled accuracy in design verification and validation processes.
  • Cost Efficiency: Reduce development costs with optimized resource allocation and efficient design methodologies.
Handsets

Unlock the Power of 5G in Mobile Devices

Designing 5G RF modules for handsets requires leveraging the vast potential of millimeter wave (mmWave) technology while tackling challenges like linearity, power, and heat. At Cadence, we understand the pressures on form factor and integration. Our solutions help you seamlessly integrate RFICs, baseband, power management, and MIMO antenna arrays to boost performance, power, and area (PPA) efficiencies.

  • Heterogeneous integration: Cadence Virtuoso Studio facilitates the co-design of RFIC, package, and module substrates, supporting the heterogeneous integration of GaAs, GaN, and Si amplifier technologies developed with the Cadence AWR Design Environment platform.
  • Enhance performance: Cadence Microwave Office software offers fast and robust convergence for nonlinear and circuit envelope analyses to enhance the performance of III-V and Si MMIC power amplifiers, essential for managing high peak-to-average power ratios in 5G networks.
  • Fast, accurate simulation: Cadence Spectre X Simulator offers up to 10X performance improvement for complex analog, RFIC, and mixed-signal blocks and subsystems.
  • Minimal power consumption: Cadence Low-Power Solution offers architecture optimization, functional verification, and power estimation.
  • Thermal and electromagnetic analysis: Cadence thermal and electromagnetic (EM) solvers conduct comprehensive, in-depth RF module analysis to ensure reliable performance in varying conditions.
  • Synthesize digital blocks: With Cadence Stratus High-Level Synthesis (HLS), synthesize high-performance, low-power digital blocks such as beamforming engines and re-target algorithmic blocks for various 5G applications, from IoT sensors to base stations.
  • Digital baseband precoding/combining, beam measurement, and tracking in the 5G transceiver design: Cadence Tensilica ConnX DSP IP provides the needed throughput for 5G handset uplink and downlink.
  • Verify chip, package, or board designs: Cadence verification tools and hardware let you emulate designs before the chip is finalized and prototype your chip for early software validation and firmware development.
RF Front End

Advanced 5G Radiohead Design

An antenna array the size of your palm may cover one side of a radiohead module with beam steering RFICs, transceivers, and power amplifiers (PAs) driving them from the reverse side of the PCB. Such compact high-frequency modules demand technology-aware design platforms that support discrete and embedded RF component design and system integration with in-design electromagnetic (EM) and thermal analysis, RF circuit simulation, and workflow support for co-design of ICs, IC packages, and modules with GaAs, GaN, and Si technologies.

Cadence helps you address these high-frequency needs with the following:

  • Intelligent System Design:  Using Virtuoso Heterogeneous Integration for RF and AWR Design Environment platform for RF MMIC and PCB IP development with in-design multiphysics analysis software helps engineers through an integrated design platform across the entire chip, package, and PCB system.
  • Support for 5G digital functions: RF digital ICs functions such as decimation, clipping, and digital pre-distortion enabled by Virtuoso Digital Implementation working with the Virtuoso Heterogeneous Integration for RF through a common OpenAccess database and Cadence Spectre Simulation Platform.
  • System-level designs: Develop system-level designs and detailed evaluations of digital pre-distortion algorithms through Cadence Visual System Simulator (VSS) co-simulating with RF PA IP from Microwave Office software and/or Cadence Spectre RF Option.
  • Smaller form factors: Optimize performance and cost using the Allegro X PCB Designer ecosystem with mechanical CAD partners.
Baseband and Edge Computing

Revolutionize Network Operations

In a centralized or cloud radio access network (C-RAN), baseband cabinets move from the bottom of mobile operator masts to edge-computing facilities in the fronthaul, where centralized baseband can be dynamically shared between radioheads. Massive co-located artificial intelligence (AI) optimizes the baseband performance over widely varying radiohead installations and traffic and provides AI heavy lifting for robots, drones, and other user equipment.

5G baseband and high-performance computing (HPC) meet in mobile edge-computing centers, and like HPC, the latest digital, network, and machine learning (ML) technologies are driving the market.

Cadence leads the charge in:

  • Advanced-node solutions: Digital and analog designs and Arm-based solutions incorporating CPU and AI processor cores.
  • 3D-IC design solutions: Cadence 3D-IC solutions and UltraLink D2D PHY IP for chiplet interconnections support disaggregated SoCs using heterogeneous chiplets.
  • Energy efficiency and performance: On-device AI applications, including AI software development and deployment, use Cadence Tensilica processors complemented by Cadence PCIe and CXL IP and DDR IP.
  • Electromagnetic, thermal solutions, and high-speed board designs: Multi-fabric gigabit-speed signal pathways for dense HPC in mobile edge-compute centers.
  • Early software development: Cadence emulation and prototyping hardware verification platforms enable early software bring-up and development on work-in-progress SoC designs incorporating CPU and AI processor cores.
  • High-performance communication: Cadence 112G SerDes IP unique firmware-controlled adaptive power design provides optimal power and performance tradeoffs with superior data recovery for lossy and noisy channels. 
  • VSS communications and radar systems design software help designers apply behavioral, impedance-aware RF models, phased array antenna systems, and baseband signal processing blocks to develop and optimize system architectures and determine component specifications for the best overall performance.
  • Efficient baseband infrastructure: Stratus High-Level Synthesis (HLS) supports retargeting and synthesizing C++ or SystemC blocks.
  • Precoding/combining, beam measurement, and tracking: For the baseband, Cadence provides the Tensilica ConnX DSP IP in multi-core configurations.
Fronthaul and Backhaul

Seamless Connectivity in 5G Networks

Radiohead and baseband are in the fabric of cities and buildings and in edge computing data centers. This physical separation, combined with the ultra-low latency targets for 5G, means the connection of the two (fronthaul) needs a fresh approach.

Cadence empowers your fronthaul and backhaul designs for high-speed optical interconnects and transceivers requiring ultra-low latency and synchronization through:

  • Silicon photonics design: High-performance design fabric for optical transceiver design using Virtuoso Studio silicon photonic solution in partnership with Lumerical/Ansys.
  • Ethernet IP: For potentially complicated 5G fronthaul connectivity to multiple radioheads, Cadence provides up to 100G Ethernet IP supporting IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol and time-sensitive networking (TSN) profile IEEE 802.1AS.

Harness the full potential of 5G infrastructure with Cadence’s comprehensive suite of tools and solutions.