Analog Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADI) and Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL) have announced a technology collaboration leveraging Marvell’s industry-leading 5G digital platform and ADI’s world-class wideband RF transceiver technology to deliver fully optimised solutions for 5G base stations. As part of the collaboration, the companies will offer fully integrated 5G digital front-end (DFE) ASIC solutions with tightly coupled RF transceivers and will collaborate to develop next generation Radio Unit (RU) solutions including baseband and RF technology optimised for a diverse set of functional splits and architectures.
“Marvell is pleased to collaborate with ADI in addressing a significant opportunity in the next wave of 5G network architectures,” said Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell. “Marvell’s leadership in baseband, digital ASIC and transport processors combined with ADI’s RF transceiver technology creates an industry-leading architecture for 5G OEMs looking to accelerate time-to-market.”
The increased complexity of 5G RUs driven both by massive MIMO deployments and mmWave spectrum requirements present unique challenges to RF and radio network designs. Optimised partitioning of RF and mixed signal technology with both digital ASIC and baseband silicon will be necessary to achieve the low power, size and cost requirements for 5G. The combination of Marvell and ADI’s best-in-class technologies enables highly optimised RU designs enabling both standard and customised implementations.
“ADI has consistently been at the forefront of cellular radio technology,” said Vincent Roche, president and CEO of Analog Devices. “We see tremendous opportunity in our collaboration with Marvell to optimise the 5G RF and digital chain for the benefit of our common customers. The solutions we are developing in conjunction with Marvell will allow our customers to build highly optimised, high performance products for this dynamic market.”
