Reconfigurable Signal Processing and DSP Hardware Generator for 5G Transmitters

To impose the reconfigurability and reusability of digital circuits for millimeterwave transmitter architectures, high-speed digital signal processing architectures are explored. The digital front-end of these next-generation transmitters can be implemented up to the maximum operating frequency to meet the requirements of the 5G NR FR2 frequency bands. This paper presents an efficient implementation of a reconfigurable digital signal processor (DSP) that contains programmable multistage multirate filters, operable up to 4 GHz, and a flexible generator for polar, outphasing, and multilevel outphasing modulation. The system achieves an excellent ACLR of 42 dB and EVM degradation of 1.61% with a 7-bit phase signal at a sampling frequency of 4 GHz for outphasing modulation. Digital synthesis of the circuit in a 22 nm FDSOI process results in a core area of 0.12 mm
²
and an estimated power consumption of 142 mW for a 200 MHz bandwidth 5G NR baseband signal.