System Budgeting to System realisation-A top down approach for a 5G mmWave Beamformer Receiver

A comprehensive 5G top down system design methodology targeting a 200m link for the Local Multi Point Distribution Service (LMDS) band 27.5GHz-28.35GHz is presented and supported with a complete design of a beamforming receiver for handset applications. Adopting a top down approach, including package and PCB floor-planning and thermal challenges at an early stage of the design cycle, a link budget analysis has been carried out to derive detailed specifications for the beamformer and subsequently implemented in a generic CMOS 45nm process. In addition, a 2×4 dual polarized co-axial fed patch antenna array is designed with a gain of 14dBi and a bandwidth of 1 GHz. Some of the key tradeoffs while selecting novel circuit topologies in a top down approach have also been discussed. The impact of module and PCB non-idealities on the beamformer performance have also been highlighted with support from initial system level simulations.