The 5G interconnect design challenges and their solutions

The 5G revolution is well underway, and with it comes a host of new challenges and opportunities for interconnect design. As the demand for more data continues to grow, many experts believe that the trend is moving toward the use of optical interconnects due to their benefits such as EMI resistance and high speeds. However, the cost is always a major factor in design decisions, and copper interconnects remain a vital component in the development of the next generation of cellular networks.

Mike Hansen, Global Product Manager at Molex, sheds light on the role of copper interconnects in the 5G landscape. According to Hansen, "The old way was the passive antenna, with coax cables running down to a large baseband unit, where it would be demodulated and converted to fiber for the long backhaul. With 4G, operators started putting the remote radio heads up onto the pole, right below the antennas. That’s when fiber down to the baseband unit started becoming popular. With 5G there are a few major shifts. There are a lot more antennas with massive MIMO, there are new frequency bands and it’s all a lot faster. So in addition to bringing the remote radio head up into the antenna and it becoming an active antenna unit, there’s just a lot going on in a relatively small box."

The challenge.

5G technology is rapidly becoming a reality, but with it comes new challenges for interconnect design. Copper interconnect plays a crucial role in the development of the next high-speed cellular network. However, with the increasing demand for data, there seems to be a trend toward moving more of the data traffic into the optical domain, due to the benefits it brings such as EMI resistance and high speeds. But cost is a major factor in the design decision.

Mike Hansen, Global Product Manager at Molex, explains that copper interconnect is still necessary for 5G, as it is the only mode that can deliver both power and data. With the old 4G network, the passive antenna had coax cables running down to a large baseband unit, where it would be demodulated and converted to fiber for the long backhaul. With 5G, there are a lot more antennas with massive MIMO, new frequency bands and it's all a lot faster. Therefore, the active antenna unit needs to be demodulated, converted from analog to digital and then switched or routed until it reaches the fiber.

Hansen believes that it's becoming more of a hybrid solution, with copper being used inside the box and fiber being used outside the box over long distances. In terms of density, copper still wins. Technologies like Molex's NearStack can support 16 differential.