5G Baseband Platform IP for Mobile Broadband and IoT

Overview

PentaG2™ is Ceva’s second generation 5G NR baseband modem IP platform. It is the industry’s only platform offering capable of meeting the extreme performance, low latency and strict power budget requirements of 3GPP 5G UE devices, from high end eMBB to cost effective RedCap (Reduced Capacity) for the IoT. It leverages Ceva’s unique expertise in DSP and modem architecture from working with world-leading wireless chip and OEM vendors.

The PentaG2™ architecture is a heterogeneous compute platform containing advanced scalar and vector DSP processors and special purpose accelerators, constituting complete signal path inline acceleration for all major processing channels to be able to meet the demanding power envelope of battery powered devices.

PentaG2™ supports the full gamut of 5G eMBB, URLLC, Sidelink and RedCap use cases, for both mmWave and sub-6 GHz, as well as legacy LTE and Cat 1 technologies. The platform is highly scalable and flexible and sustains bit-rates from a 100Mbps in case of the low power IoT, to 10Gbps and above for case of handset eMBB and FWA.

PentaG2™ comes in two main configurations:

PentaG2-Max – targeting wideband eMBB use cases in handsets and CPE/FWA Terminals and mmWave, as well as URLLC enabled AR/VR and C-V2X use cases.

PentaG2-Lite – supports a range of reduced capacity use cases, from LTE Cat1, to future 3GPP Rel-17/18 NR RedCap (Reduced Capacity, aka NR-Lite). PentaG2-Lite is an extremely efficient and lean baseband implementation with complete processing chain acceleration and utilizing a small footprint DSP controller, to meet the most stringent power budgets.

Key Features

Hardware components:
- Optimized HW accelerators for all processing chains
- Bit Modulation (BMU) and Bit Demodulation (BDU) units , for complete symbol domain to FEC processing
- Equalizer and MAC processing unit (EMU) for matrix operations
- Complete FEC encoding and decoding for both 5G and 4G
- Other optimized PentaG2 HW accelerators, including: FFT/IFFT engine, Vector MAC Unit (VMU), AI Processor, MLD, HARQ, and more
- Enhanced Ceva-XC4500 DSP with 5G ISA Extensions
- Ceva-BX2 scalar DSP for PHY control
Software components:
- Drivers for all HW accelerators
- 5G and DSP SW libraries running on Ceva-XC4500 and Ceva-BX2 DSPs
- Complete SW implementation of all major processing chains, including PDSCH, PUSCH, and PDCCH
HW and SW Development Kit:
- System-C SoC simulator supporting all PentaG2 components, allowing fast solution dimensioning, pre-silicon SW development, and PoC. Easy integration to 3’rd party frameworks (e.g. Matlab and OAI)
- FPGA development board

Benefits

Fully configurable IP platform for 5G NR and multi-mode RAT.
Dedicated and optimized Max configuration for eMBB and Lite configuration for emerging cellular IoT modems.
Reduces 5G NR modem design time-to-market and lowers entry barriers
Optimal HW/SW partitioning for competitive power budget, using complete acceleration of all major processing chains
Single architecture supporting the full range of 5G NR (and legacy LTE) use cases and operating modes

Block Diagram

Video

CEVA PentaG2 Lite Baseband Platform for 5G RedCap and Cellular IoT

CEVA’s PentaG2-Lite platform IP is enabling 5G connectivity in power-constraint IoT and consumer devices. 5G for IoT is the promising next phase for utilizing the real potential of 5G networks, opening up a multitude of new vertical use cases.

Applications

5G wireless modem
LTE-A wireless modem

Technical Specifications

Maturity

In Production

Availability

Available

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