Event-Driven Modeling and Simulation of 5G NR-Band RF Transceiver in SystemVerilog

Abstract:
While baseband-equivalent real-number models (RNMs) are the current state-of-the-art for modeling RF transceivers in SystemVerilog, but their simulation speeds and accuracies are not adequate for predicting performance degradation due to DC offsets or high-order harmonic effects. This paper presents the models for a multi-standard, directconversion RF transceiver using XMODEL, for evaluating its system-level performance as well as verifying its digital controllers. The simulation results indicate that the presented models, including the digital configuration/calibration logic for the 5G sub-6GHz-band and mmWave-band transceiver, can deliver 30–1800× higher speeds than the baseband-equivalent RNMs while estimating the quadrature amplitude modulation signal constellation and error vector magnitude in the presence of non-idealities such as non-linearities, DC offsets, and I/Q imbalances.