Kumu Networks announced the industry’s first Full Duplex chip that provides the Self-Interference Cancellation (SIC) technology required to implement the sub-band full duplex (SBFD) feature outlined in the 5G Advanced proposal.
This chip will allow mobile network operators and network infrastructure providers to address the expansion of the 5G Advanced standard into industry verticals that require Ultra-Reliable Low Latency (URLLC) capabilities.
SBFD’s ability to utilize adjacent channels in the same band for simultaneous transmission and reception makes it an essential component for reaching the performance levels required by advanced applications. Implementing SBFD capability in a practical antenna configuration requires the high-performance SIC provided by Kumu’s Camelot RFICs.
Kumu Networks said SBFD achieves a ten-fold reduction in latency and allows the network to meet stringent 5G URLLC requirements and enables next-generation use cases for Industrial IoT, eXtended Reality (XR), connected car and more.
As defined in 3GPP Release 18, SBFD is a step toward Single Frequency Full Duplex (SFFD). SFFD uses the same frequency for simultaneous transmission and reception, which provides magnitudes higher capacity and user throughput.
Kumu Networks CEO David Cutrer said: “We have products available now to enable SBFD and will continue to leverage our foundational technology towards the ultimate goal of single frequency full duplex, considered by many to be the holy grail of spectral efficiency.”
The Camelot RFIC has a footprint of 4.5mm x 4.5mm and current draw of about one mAmp; hence can be easily integrated into 5G Massive MIMO Radio Units (RUs). When combined with beam-nulling techniques, it can offer up to 100dB of isolation between the transmit and receive antenna elements.
Kumu Networks said its demo shows, without SIC, uplink connections experience severe interference, leading to a significant loss of throughput and coverage while requiring higher device transmit power, reducing battery life. Kumu’s Camelot RFIC demonstration illustrates how SIC with SBFD helps make 5G Advanced a technical and financial reality.
