5 Things to Consider When Designing
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Systems
By David Schnaufer, Technical Marketing Communications Manager, Qorvo
One of the earliest uses of 5G will be fixed wireless access
(FWA), which promises to deliver gigabit internet speeds.
FWA can be delivered to homes, apartments, and businesses
in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional cable/fiber
installations. As with any technological advance, FWA brings
new design hurdles and technology decisions. Let's dig into five
things to consider when designing FWA systems:
• The choice of frequency spectrum: millimeter wave (mmWave)
or sub-6GHz
• Achieving higher data rates with antenna arrays
• All-digital or hybrid beamforming
• Power amplifier (PA) technology choices: silicon germanium
(SiGe) or gallium nitride (GaN)
• Choosing components from today's RF front-end (RFFE)
product portfolios
Spectrum choice: mmWave or
sub-6GHz
The first decision is whether to use mmWave or sub-6GHz
frequencies for FWA:
• mmWave. These higher frequencies offer a large amount of
contiguous spectrum available at low cost. mmWave supports
component carriers up to 400MHz wide and enables gigabit
data rates. The challenge is path loss due to obstacles like
vegetation, buildings, and interference. However, don't assume
FWA is useful only in clear line-of-sight settings between
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