National Instruments Announces mmWave Software Defined Radio

National Instruments has announced the first software defined radio (SDR) for the millimeter wave (mmWave spectrum). The NI mmWave Transceiver System, according to the company, is a full transceiver that can process wide-bandwidth signals at 2GHz real-time bandwidth.

It also includes new PXI Express modules to function as an access point for a user device. With this capability, users can develop mmWave communication prototyping systems and simultaneously perform system measurements.

The mmWave baseband software delivers a mmWave physical layer including channel coding in LabVIEW virtual instrument source code for system development. Researchers can also use the mmWave transceiver system baseband with the E-band mmWave heads or other third-party RF front ends to offer maximum flexibility for exploring other mmWave and microwave frequency bands, a press release states.

“There’s no doubt that 5G will include frequencies above 6 GHz,” said Charles Schroeder, vice president of RF and Wireless Communications Product Marketing at National Instruments. “The mmWave transceiver system is an essential platform for understanding the propagation models of higher frequency signals and for building real-world prototypes of these new generation 5G systems.”

For more information, visit National Instruments.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.