InterDigital 5G NR Platform

The primary purpose of the NR Platform is to validate and showcase InterDigital developed standards-based technology for research. With an emphasis on NR L1 technology development, L1 can optionally be integrated with a 3rd party NR protocol stack. Hence alignment of a common L1-L2 interface with a 3rd party protocol stack is selected to ease with the foreseen integration. In the interim, a Thin L23 is developed in order to enable the validation and demonstration of the L1 technology without the necessity of using a full NR protocol stack.

As shown in the block-diagram figure, the NR Node consists of one Mast Head Unit (MHU) and one Modem Processor Unit (MPU). Each NR node can be configured for use as either a gNB or a UE where at least one gNB and one UE are required to complete a NR system. The MHU consists of a Digital Board and an RF board. The MPU contains 2 ​Trenz SoMs that can be used to process all real time signals (e.g. encoder, CHEST, CHEQ) and all buffered signals (e.g. decoder, interfaces). Only one SoM has been implemented and the 2nd SoM is available for future features.

The platform is designed to support FR2 bands (26 - 29 GHz) with channel bandwidths of up to 200 MHz. It is a TDD system with 120 kHz subcarrier spaced OFDM, PSS synchronization and LDPC supporting PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PUSCH, and PBCH physical channels (no PRACH) . The platform also currently supports: Cell Search, 2-step RACH, HARQ, and beam management with beam steering angles: 0, ±15, 30, 40 (total of 7 beams).