Peraso Inc., a leader in mmWave technology, announced its new PRS1520 mmWave beamformer integrated circuit (IC). Combining a high level of integration with superior performance in a single device, the PRS1520 is anticipated to provide service providers with the opportunity to achieve a material reduction in their cost per subscriber. Furthermore, Peraso has implemented a scalable architecture that can be tailored to a host of mmWave-enabled, 5G devices, including customer premise equipment (CPE), laptops, tablets and hotspots. Third party industry analysts are predicting annual volume of such equipment to be in the range of 42 million units in 2025, or an estimated TAM of $1.5 billion.

"Carriers need millimeter-wave networks to handle the heavy capacity load of fixed broadband subscribers," stated Joe Madden of Mobile Experts, a provider of market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets. "The market needs better beamforming solutions, especially for CPE in the FWA market.

This introduction by Peraso is an encouraging sign that high-performance CPE will be available soon."

Peraso's PRS1520 IC will be ideal for end-user equipment, including fixed wireless access (FWA) CPE, as it is designed to support the frequency range from 24 to 44 GHz, which will allow U.S. operators to deploy a common RF module for all licensed mmWave spectrum. In conjunction with Peraso's patented dual-band, dual-polarized, 5G mmWave antenna technology, the beamformer will target maximum EIRP of up to 50 dBm.

"Peraso designed the PRS1520 IC from the ground up to meet the demands of 5G end-user equipment," stated Ron Glibbery, CEO of Peraso. "Over the past 14 years, Peraso has developed a proven track record of introducing next-generation, mmWave radios into the market, and we believe this record of success will continue into the 5G mmWave market. With our introduction of the PRS1520, we expect to significantly increase the market for our products."

Key features of the PRS1520 are anticipated to include:

  • Support for all FR2 5G NR mmWave bands:
    • 24.25 to 29.5 GHz (n257, n258, n261)
    • 37 to 43.5 GHz (n259, n260)
  • Dual-stream MIMO support with two independent 16-channel beamforming arrays (32 total channels)
  • Transmit linear output power (per element) 17 to 18 dBm
  • Innovative phase and amplitude adjustment approach to support dynamic beam tables with 1000s of entries
  • Support for multi-device, tiled configurations to achieve higher performance.

The EVK-PRS1520 evaluation module will combine the PRS1520 beamformer with a dual-band, dual-polarized antenna that is expected to:

  • Include the PRS1520 beamformer IC and all support circuitry
  • Include an integrated 16-element dual-polarized, dual-band antenna, supporting all FR2 NR mmWave bands
  • Provide a target EIRP of up to 50 dBm for the complete solution.

The PRS1520 is expected to be available for sampling by Peraso's early access partners in the third calendar quarter of 2022 using the Peraso EVK-PRS1520 evaluation module.