Nokia is showcasing how its commercially available AirScale radio access can support 5G technologies to give operators the confidence that their hardware investments will meet future demands. This is the first time 5G radio access is being demonstrated on commercial hardware. Operators will be able to launch 5G earlier and at lower cost, and migrate their existing LTE infrastructure to early 5G services in 2017, with full 5G commercial services expected in 2020.
Nokia is showing how operators can test 5G use cases in their networks using all spectrum bands, including sub-6 GHz for wide area coverage and early market entry, with cmWave and mmWave providing very high communications capacity.
Such early testing ahead of full 5G standards, currently being devised by various standards bodies with the aim of having them in place by 2020, will help ensure that subscribers get superior and consistent performance of 5G from day one.
Nokia is showing the following at Mobile World Congress 2016: Pre-standard 5G radio technology on Nokia AirScale Base Station and AirScale Cloud Base Station Server running on Nokia AirFrame IT hardware. The system uses 8x8 MIMO and an optimized frame structure that cuts latency below 1 millisecond. The ultra-low latency and multi-Gbps throughput lets users collaborate in real-time regardless of location in a multi-user, virtual reality demonstration.
A high-sensitivity receiver for mmWave opens up the use of 64QAM with 2x2 MIMO, thereby enabling multi-Gbps speed. As previously shown, the systems also support advanced concepts such as beam steering to precisely track end-user location and demand. Although mmWave are expected to be standardized in 3GPP by 2019, Nokia's pre-standard system provides hands-on experience of how to build the final commercial solution.
Multi-connectivity concept to enable devices to connect simultaneously to LTE and 5G radio for smooth evolution as 5G is deployed on top of LTE.
Nokia Services will ensure flawless hybrid network performance with accurate 3D planning of small cells and Predictive Services.
Hossein Moiin,CTO of Nokia Mobile Networks, said: "This is the industry's first demonstration of how 5G will work in practice, going beyond previous experimental systems. We are showing 5G live on our commercial AirScale radio access product - it's a major advance because it means that 5G is no longer a distant vision. Now operators can invest with confidence in network equipment that will support both existing and 5G technologies when they are standardized."
