Picocom, a 5G Open RAN baseband semiconductor and software specialist, announced that it has collaborated with Texas Instruments (TI) on a complete 5G Open RAN small cell radio unit reference design to help accelerate customers’ time-to-market. The 5G small cell radio unit meets the O-RAN Alliance specification for a 5 W 4T4R 200 MHz 5G outdoor radio unit (O-RU). It features TI’s AFE7769D quad-channel RF transceiver integrating DPD/CFR with Picocom’s PC802 5GNR/LTE PHY System-on-Chip (SoC). The reference design hardware is also LTE compatible.

“We are pleased to announce our collaboration with TI and unveil the results of our joint labors. We’ve been working closely to ensure the seamless integration of Picocom’s PC802 and TI’s AFE77xxD transceiver family to offer small cell and O-RU design solutions to market, bringing benefits to new and existing customers,” said Vicky Messer, vice president of product management at Picocom.

“With this design, engineers can take advantage of an O-RAN-standard SoC and RF transceiver to optimise power transfer and ease system integration for their small cell designs,” said Karthik Vasanth, general manager of data converters and clocks at TI. “Our transceivers with integrated digital predistortion, paired with Picocom’s SoC and software, align to today’s demands for small cell efficiency.”

The TI PCM-3P-PC802 – LTE/5G O-RAN Small Cell Outdoor Radio Reference Design incorporates an AFE7769D RF transceiver and Picocom’s PC802 SoC. The reference design includes specifications for PCBs, cables, an enclosure, complete mechanical design schematics and evaluation and manufacturing support – everything required for manufacture, providing a rapid assessment and prototyping tool for small cell radio units.