Today, your LTE smartphone receives transmissions from one cell at a time, and many different techniques are used to ensure that you stay connected as you move between cells.
With reference to ITU, Public Relations and International Affairs of TIC announced that: But, with smartphone subscriptions set to more than double, suggesting an eightfold increase in traffic by the end of 2020, today's mobile technology alone won't be sufficient to maintain high quality connections as traffic grows, while satisfying new challenging demands.This is exacerbated by a growing number of connected things, the so called Internet of Things or IoT, jockeying for mobile network links.The
next generation of mobile networking, known as 5G, is expected to be
commercially available around 2020, but Ericsson already has live indoor and outdoor 5G test networks in Sweden
and the US. Ericsson's latest 5G technology initiative provides a way to
deliver drop-free, higher capacity mobile connections for both people and
things.
Mischa
Dohler, Chair Professor of Wireless Communications and Head of the Centre for
Telecommunications Research (CTR), King's College London, says:
"High-speed, highly reliable mobile networks are foundational to the
tactile internet and the internet of skills that it will enable. The results
that are being achieved in Ericsson's live 5G test networks -- much faster data
rates, more resilient connections- are critical to unleashing the new use cases
that will drive 5G."
Ericsson's
latest 5G initiative sounds deceptively simple; a 5G mobile device connects to
several 5G cells at the same time, this is known as multipoint connectivity. It
provides the resiliency to ensure that the device maintains a high-quality
connection with the 5G network as it moves between cells. It also enables the
transmission of several different sets of data signals (Multiple Input Multiple
Output, or MIMO, streams) to the mobile device over the same radio frequency
channel. This is called distributed MIMO, and it can increase downlink
throughput by 100%. The combined technical capability is called Multipoint
Connectivity with Distributed MIMO.
Dr.
Håkan Andersson, 5G Strategic Product Manager, Business Unit Radio, Ericsson,
says: "To be ready for commercial networks in 2020, 5G research and
development now has to come out of the labs and into live test networks.
Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO, supported on Ericsson's 5G air
interface, is just the latest example of 5G initiatives moving into live test
network implementation."
Multipoint
Connectivity with Distributed MIMO involves very sophisticated signaling
methods, which are not part of today's LTE standards, to control the mobile
device's interaction with the network. So, while LTE technology is evolving to
become an integral part of tomorrow's 5G networks, 5G will also include
innovative new air interfaces (including signaling, modulation schemes and
other software-driven innovations) between the device and the network.
Ericsson's 5G air interface initiative, labeled "NX", includes this
new Multipoint Connectivity with Distributed MIMO capability.
5G
will involve the entire future communication eco-system, from devices to mobile
access, IP core and into the cloud. Ericsson's latest 5G test network
initiatives focus on the interactions between mobile devices and the radio
access network, in both indoor and outdoor circumstances.