Keysight Technologies Inc. announced new collaborations with China Mobile on key 5G technologies. This includes channel measurement and modeling and massive MIMO over-the-air (OTA) testing. China Mobile is the world’s largest mobile network operator. This work is a continuation and strengthening of the 5G collaborations with China Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. Research Institute (CMRI) that began in 2014.
“Massive MIMO technology R&D and commercialization is one key focus of China Mobile Research Institute’s 5G R&D team,” said Guangyi Liu, chief technology officer, Wireless Department, China Mobile Research Institute. “The joint collaboration and innovation, together with our long-time partner Keysight Technologies within the China Mobile 5G Innovation Center framework, will greatly speed-up the R&D work, including massive MIMO channel measurement, modeling and OTA test. This will help accelerate massive MIMO technology maturation and drive the technology commercialization.”
Channel measurement and modeling are critical for 5G technology research and development, as well as for standardization. Keysight has the industry-leading 5G MIMO Channel Sounding Reference Solution, which addresses the wide-frequency coverage, broad bandwidth and the multi-channel challenges facing 5G channel measurement and modeling research. Based on Keysight’s advanced modeling and measurement tools, Keysight Labs has established the collaboration with CMRI on 5G channel measurement and modeling. This collaboration supports CMRI’s research on establishing the 5G channel models covering from 6GHz up to 100 GHz.
“As the long-time test and measurement solution partner for China Mobile, these on-going collaborations demonstrate Keysight’s commitment to the fifth generation of wireless,” said Jay Alexander, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Keysight Technologies. “Keysight will continue to drive 5G technology R&D and commercialization together with China Mobile and other industry-leading partners well into the future.”
Massive MIMO is another important technology for 5G and 5G massive MIMO OTA test is key for 5G system design and verification. Based on Keysight’s proprietary massive MIMO antenna test and calibration technology, and CMRI’s proprietary massive MIMO antenna array, known as SmartTile, Keysight Labs and CMRI have established a deep collaboration on massive MIMO OTA test and measurement. This collaboration has already yielded some productive results, even at this early stage of collaboration.
At MWC 2016, CMCC announced the CMCC 5G Innovation Center. Keysight was among the first 11 partners supporting the new center. The 5G channel measurement and modeling, and massive MIMO OTA collaborations, represent a further strengthening of the deep collaboration between Keysight and CMCC, now under the 5G Innovation Center framework.
Keysight’s collaborative work with China Mobile on 5G research reinforces the strong commitments by Keysight in China to support industry leaders in the development of 5G technologies. Keysight will have a dedicated team in its R&D center in Beijing to work directly with the CMRI teams to support the 5G Innovation Center project.