Ericsson establishes 7Gbps connection to moving vehicle using 5G prototype
Ericsson has announced the successful usage of 5G prototypes to establish a sustained 7Gbps mobile connection with a moving vehicle, which the network technology giant said will be "critical" for 5G in terms of connecting smart and autonomous vehicles.
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"Our latest 5G technology breakthrough will enable operators to field trial key 5G applications requiring high-performance connectivity to cars, buses, and trains for smart vehicle and intelligent transport use cases," Joakim Sorelius, head of 5G Architecture at Ericsson, said.
The trial was undertaken at Ericsson's Stockholm, Sweden, headquarters on June 10, utilising 5G radio access prototype equipment using a 5G radio interface named New Radio (NR) alongside massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). Massive MIMO combines a high number of antenna elements with beamforming for higher throughput, increased coverage, improved capacity, and more efficient usage of the mobile network.
The 5G radio prototype, which is being used in 5G trials by mobile operators, was placed in a moving van, which was able to sustain a mobile connection of more than 7Gbps with the network.
Ericsson also launched Massive MIMO as a 5G software plug-in earlier this month, along with Multi-User MIMO, RAN Virtualization, Intelligent Connectivity, and Latency Reduction.
Ericsson has been making extensive preparations in 5G; in February, it announced a trial run of Telstra's 5G network during the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, with the two companies to collaborate on collecting data and building the mathematical models of radio signals to be used for 5G radio spectrum.
At the same time, Ericsson said it would be partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on researching and launching telecommunications service provider hybrid cloud centres worldwide to extend its cloud programs, datacentres, and application migration solutions to accelerate cloud adoption for telcos in preparation of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).
As part of the deal, Ericsson will put together a team of cloud experts chosen from its 25,000-strong research and development team, consisting of program directors, solutions architects, and systems engineers, who will be trained in both AWS and Ericsson cloud technologies.
On Wednesday, Ericsson also announced the demonstration of a new technology labelled Software-Defined Telecommunications Infrastructure (SDTI) in partnership with South Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom.
SDTI, which is based on the concept of infrastructure slicing, powers ultra-mini servers for large-scale OTT services and enables a wide range of 5G network capabilities.
"We are pleased to jointly develop this SDTI technology based on Ericsson HDS 8000. Ericsson will continue to lead the 5G network technical innovation toward the 5G commercialisation in collaboration with SK Telecom," said Ulf Ewaldsson, Ericsson CTO.
SK Telecom and Ericsson also plan to jointly build an end-to-end 5G pilot system consisting of 5G device, radio, core network, and SDTI by the end of 2016.