Our latest release, 5G NR FR1 Reference Design, makes the case for a common, modular architecture for 5G small cell distributed radio units. This work lays the foundations for the development of reference designs focused on delivering greater flexibility and scalability, including the ability to swap out regionally specific RF front end (RFFE) modules.

Small cells come in a growing variety of form factors, with different architectures, power levels and designed to address a diversity of use cases. Currently, the interfaces between different vendors’ small cells, or between different functional splits, are not uniform. This can increase cost, complexity and integration time and reduces scale.

SCF251 will be a useful reference for the entire wireless infrastructure ecosystem, but is especially targeted at:

• Component makers looking to prioritize their development efforts on the areas of highest demand.
• Private network, neutral host and mobile network operators to inform their configuration and architecture choices.
• System integrators and ODMs to reduce development effort.

This paper provides the foundational framework for understanding the components and interfaces that make up a 5G NR FR1 small cell distributed radio unit. Reference designs can then be built within this framework to address different markets and scenarios with different RFFE requirements. That will enable designers to create products that can be easily configured and reconfigured for different applications. The paper also provides an overview of available solutions, as vendors and deployers increasingly look to have a second or third source of each component.