NXP QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 Programmable Wireless SoC to Support 5G, 802.11ax & 802.11ad WiFi, and Wireline

NXP has recently announced QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 programmable wireless platform with two ARMv8 cores, and simultaneous multi-standard support for 5G, Wi-Fi (802.11 ac and 802.11ax) and Wireline systems for enterprise and high-end home gateways.

QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 key features and specifications:

Multicore ARMv8 Processors for user applications
DDR4 with ECC
Programmable accelerator engines for signal processing.
Programmable low latency MAC layer processing engines
Programmable high performance packet processing engines to over 10 Gbps
Configurable cryptographic offload engines
Simultaneous multi-standard support for 5G, Wi-Fi (802.11 ac and 802.11ax) and Wireline systems
Multiple Ethernet interfaces including 10Gbps
PCIe gen 3.0
Integrated Trust architecture
Single source clocking

The main benefit of this SoC is that is is programmable, so even if some standards evolve after the release, it can be re-programmed to reflects the changes in specifications.

LA1575 Gateway Example – Click to Enlarge

Just to refresh everybody’s memory:

5G is the successor of 4G/LTE scheduled to start (Wave 1) around 2018, with higher speeds(Wave 2) solutions coming in 2019-2020 with up to 10 Gbps data transfer
802.11ad is a new WiFi with very high bitrate (Up to 7Gbps) working within a room @ 2.4/5/60 GHz, and capable of reliably transferring uncompress video data. It’s limited to room use, and the range is about 5 meters.
802.11ax, also known as High-Efficiency Wireless (HEW), should improve the average throughput per user by a factor of at least 4 times in dense user environments, with a total bandwidth of 10 Gbps over 2.4 and 5.0 GHz frequencies. The standard is expected to be published in 2019.
Wireline may have two meanings: simply wired communication (e.g. Ethernet), or “high-speed data transmitted between chips using electrical or optical communication over wires to reach the lowest power requirements.” according to the University of California. It’s possible NXP refers to both meanings.

LayerScape LA1575 samples will be available in April 2017, and NXP will do some presentations (under NDA) next week, at NXP Mobile World Congress 2017 booth #7E30, Fira Grand via, Barcelona, Spain. You’ll find some (limited) extra information on QorIQ LayerScape LA1575 product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.