SCF today released updates to its 5G FAPI specifications to align with additional 3GPP Rel-16 features, and to introduce MU/Massive-MIMO support. FAPI is used in millions of the world’s SoC small cells and can now be applied to macro cells as well.

The latest FAPI specifications are the result of intensive cooperation between SCF members from across the ecosystem including Picocom:

“All RANs have MAC-PHY interfaces. With small cells, the MAC and the PHY are usually provided by different vendors, and FAPI has enabled an open ecosystem”, added Vicky Messer, Director of Product Management and FAPI Lead at Picocom. “With Open RAN, a standardised MAC-PHY interface is essential for all classes of cell, and the Small Cell Forum has risen to the challenge of enhancing the FAPI specifications to embrace new requirements.”  

The new specifications provide common logical interfaces for the main components of a 5G small cell, namely:

• ‘5G FAPI: PHY API’ – main data path (P7) and PHY mode control (P5) interface [SCF222]
• ‘5G FAPI: RF and Digital Front End Control API’ – (P19) for Frontend Unit control [SCF223]
• ‘Network Monitor Mode API’ – (P4) for 2G/3G/4G/5G [SCF224]
• ‘5G nFAPI Specification’ [SCF225]

Also included on the SCF landing page is S-RU and S-DU Test Support [SCF228]. This paper is not a specification – the specification is derived from 3GPP standards – but aims to educate the reader on how split 6 products can be tested.

Read the full SCF news release here.

Original Source SCF.