IoT

Advanced network and security features for outdoor applications are claimed to be delivered by the PDS-204GCO power over Ethernet (PoE) switch from Microchip Technology.

It is the next generation of the PDS-104GO, and additionally offers easy installation and environmental protection, said the company.

PoE switches designed for outdoor use in smart buildings and cities enable services ranging from public Wi-Fi and video surveillance to connected streetlights that require improved reliability and cybersecurity protection. The PDS-204GCO switch  adds increased cyber protection and the redundancy required for high network availability in mission-critical applications with long-distance connectivity, said Microchip.

Like the earlier PoE switch, the PDS-204GCO complies with outdoor industry standards and is designed for easy and safe installation but is better able to support applications in which massive amounts of critical data are collected from widely dispersed PoE-powered edge IoT devices. “It addresses these dual challenges of network security and network availability all the way from the endpoint to the central management system,” said Iris Shuker, director of Microchip’s PoE business unit.

PoE technology enables power to be delivered over standard Ethernet infrastructure for quick and easy installation of edge IoT end points. Outdoor PoE switches connect these devices to the network and power them under a broad range of environmental conditions while monitoring and controlling status, including remote reset.

According to Microchip, the PDS-104GO switch is the first to support the industry’s high Ingress Protection 67 (IP67) waterproof rating in these applications while eliminating the need to open the unit during installation and jeopardize safety, performance or reliability. It also adds cybersecurity features for Ethernet networks to protect applications against threats at all network levels, and redundancy features that enable high network availability.

The PDS-204GCO includes four PoE Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports that support the IEEE 802.3bt (Type-4) standard and two small form factor pluggable (SFP) fibre links that each support 1Gbit per second or 2.5Gbit per second speeds. The fibre links can be used as optical uplink ports for surveillance cameras and as a redundant uplink path for increasing network availability.

Support for ITU-T G.8032 Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) technology ensures communication continues if there is an uplink link failure. The PDS-204GCO switches also supports multiple network topologies, and multiple units can be concatenated using a daisychain topology to extend the reach from the main central switches while reducing the number of optical cables directly connected to it from each device.

Cybersecurity features protect both the data traffic transmitted within the switch and the switch’s system management. Key features for protecting transmitted data within the switch include endpoint device authentication and authorisation, manual switch-traffic policy management, and denial of service (DoS) attack prevention. Key features for protecting switch management and configuration include securing web browsing using self-signed or Certificate Authority (CA)-signed certifications and user authentication and authorisation by remote servers using Radius or TACACS+ security mechanisms.

The PDS-204GCO outdoor PoE switch is based on Microchip’s VSC7514 10-port industrial Ethernet switch, VCS6817 IStaX software package and PoE integrated circuits.

The PDS-204GCO switch is available now.

http://www.microchip.com

Analog Devices (ADI) and Marvell Technology have collaborated to deliver a 5G massive MIMO (mMIMO) radio reference design which will be showcased at MWC 2023. It combines digital beamforming and transceiver silicon with support for Open RAN (O-RAN). 

The collaboration combines ADI’s latest RadioVerse transceiver SoC and the Marvell Octeon 10 Fusion 5G baseband processor. The latter is claimed to be the industry’s first 5nm digital beamforming solution for 5G. The reference design has been created to improve the time to market for advanced mMIMO radio units and O-RAN support with up to 40per cent lower energy consumption, smaller size and lower weight. The Octeon 10 Fusion baseband processor also provides flexible L1 implementation, with hardware and software reuse across the radio unit and distributed unit to facilitate evolving L1 splits among operators worldwide over the coming years. The RadioVerse SoC provides extensive digital RF front end capabilities including field proven digital pre-distortion (DPD). 

“As mMIMO radio functionality grows in complexity, more specialised silicon approaches are required,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, chairman of the O-RAN Alliance. He said that reference designs such as this one can help catalyse the O-RAN market for 5G mMIMO radio units “by enabling advanced configurations that meet network operators’ high expectations for power efficiency and performance.”

Together, the RadioVerse transceiver SoC and the Octeon 10 Fusion processor support the entire signal chain with unmatched radio unit system efficiency, said Analog Devices. The ADRV9040 RadioVerse transceiver SoC includes linearisation algorithms for boosting power amplifier efficiency and performance, as well as digital channel filters which reduce interface rates. The Octeon 10 Fusion 5G baseband processor has specialised accelerators optimised for processing complex beamforming algorithms, along with dedicated processors for the low PHY baseband which can be configured for the various O-RAN split 7.2x configurations. 

“Infrastructure vendors face many challenges when developing O-RAN mMIMO radio units, including access to optimised semiconductors,” said Joe Barry, vice president of marketing, systems & technology in the communication and cloud business unit at ADI. He said the platform “makes industry-leading technology available to both established and emerging vendors”.  

Will Chu, senior vice president, processors business group at Marvell, said that the combination “provides OEMs a 5G open radio unit reference design that scales the capabilities and performance of next-generation mMIMO beamforming at the lowest possible power”.

The reference design is expandable to support a 64T64R configuration. It supports 32 transmit and receive antennas (32T32R) with 400MHz of operational bandwidth and 300MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. The Octeon 10 Fusion 5G baseband processor and RadioVerse SoC leverage hardware accelerators as well as the 16nm RF and 5nm digital baseband process nodes shipping commercially, delivering up to 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption per bit compared with the previous generation. The platform enables network energy savings (NES) modes, for additional power savings. 

The platform is on display at MWC 2023 (27 February to 02 March), at ADI’s booth (Hall 2-2B18) and Marvell’s booth (Hall 2-2F34).

http://www.analog.com