Skyworks’ advanced synchronisation support next-gen 5G deployments

Each product family is engineered to meet the requirements of mobile operators and equipment vendors for 5G fronthaul networks. Precise and accurate time synchronisation is critical to reliable network operation and is paving the way for future enhancements, including Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and Coordinated Multipoint Access (CoMP) that empower 5G to support autonomous vehicles, factory automation, telemedicine and other emerging applications.

“Skyworks’ decades of expertise and patented timing technology enable the company to offer best-in-class performance, integration, and reliability, featuring its ultra-low jitter DSPLL architecture with MultiSynth ‘any-frequency’ clock synthesis,” said Mark Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Mixed Signal Solutions Business at Skyworks. “This technology allows multiple clock and synchronisation functions to be combined into a single device, reducing power consumption and printed circuit board space, while simplifying high-frequency design. Skyworks has been collaborating with partners such as NXP Semiconductors and AMD to drive 5G solutions for both the public and private wireless network markets.”

“Focused on enabling an ecosystem to support O-RAN 5G solutions that allows customers to quickly bring products to market, NXP leverages the hardware capabilities of its Layerscape multicore processors and Layerscape Access programmable-based processors for 1588 timing synchronisation and combines it with ecosystem solutions like those provided by Skyworks,” said Tareq Bustami, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Network Edge at NXP Semiconductors. “Our collaboration with Skyworks delivers robust ecosystem solutions that meet the stringent requirements of evolving 5G networks.”

“Skyworks Si551x and Si540x products are ideal companions to our system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, including our RFSoC DFE and Versal platforms targeted at 5G RRU, Beamforming fronthaul and vDU,” said Mike Wissolik, Director of Marketing, Data Centre and Communications Group at AMD. “The AccuTime software runs on our in-built ARM processor subsystem and utilises on-chip IP allowing customers to have a truly integrated synchronization solution.”

Additional Product Information:

Skyworks’ Si551x and Si540x timing solutions comply with all relevant telecom standards, including ITU-T G.826x/G.827x, IEEE 1588-2008/2019 and O-RAN WG4, enabling robust and reliable synchronisation across networks. These products are in production, and samples and evaluation kits are available.

Si551x: Optimised for air-interface equipment including radio units (RUs) and integrated small cells, the Si5518 and Si5512 products combine the functions of network synchronisation, jitter attenuation and JESD204B/C clocking into a single device.

Si540x: Optimised for equipment within the fronthaul network, such as distribution units (DUs) and fronthaul switches and gateways, the Si5401, Si5402 and Si5403 products provide network synchronisation and synchronous Ethernet/SDH clock wander filtering.

AccuTime IEEE 1588 Software: Designed to provide a comprehensive and flexible PTP solution, and highly integrated with the Si551x and Si540x devices, AccuTime IEEE 1588 software supports time recovery performance to meet the requirements of real-world fronthaul network deployments using full (FTS), partial (PTS) or assisted partial (APTS) timing support.