Deutsche Telekom (DT), Huawei and Intel achieved what the companies say is the first 5G interoperability and development testing (IODT) based on the 3GPP R15 standard, using a commercial base station. The successful test is a critical step towards the full commercial 2019 launch of Huawei and Intel solutions supporting millions of devices.
Using Huawei's commercial NR base station and the Intel 5G NR Mobile Trial Platform, the three parties jointly verified the fundamentals of the new 5G 3GPP NR standard, including new synchronization, coding, frame structure and the numerology components underlying the interconnection of the NR-compliant terminal and network.
The test configuration was based on the largest C-Band cell bandwidth defined by the 5G NR standard and incorporated the latest massive MIMO multi-antenna and beamforming technology enabled by the standard framework.
The first 5G NR standard was successfully completed on December 21, 2017, at the 3GPP TSG RAN meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. All industry partners including operators, equipment vendors and terminal chipset suppliers agreed to accelerate the 5G NR standard process and facilitate the 5G global industrialization process.
Deutsche Telekom and Huawei began cooperating on 5G network research in 2015 and committed to accelerating the development of the ecosystem. With the benefit of Intel's 5G NR platforms, the group realized successful IODT tests.
Arash Ashouriha, Senior Vice President Technology Innovation of Deutsche Telekom said, “After delivering leading contributions to the 3GPP’s work on 5G standards, Deutsche Telekom, Huawei and Intel moved swiftly to jointly verify implementation progress through standards-based interoperability testing. The success of our test is a significant step on the path to 5G ecosystem maturity and early 5G commercialization.”
Yang Chaobin, President of Huawei’s 5G product line, said, "The success of this testing shows that Huawei and all parties have devoted themselves deeply to the new NR standard. As the standard continues to be updated, Huawei will continue to work with all parties to step up interoperability test and promote the 5G industry maturity process and to welcome the arrival of the entire industry digitization.”
Asha Keddy, Vice President Client, and General Manager Next Generation Standards, Intel Corporation, said, "Intel has been actively working with leading 5G companies to take advantage of Intel's unique end-to-end 5G NR technology and to accelerate 5G testing and commercialization based on the latest 5G NR technology. The Intel XMM™8000 modem family maturity and time-to-launch will significantly benefit from this early multi-vendor interoperability progress and the realization of a global 5G NR industry ecosystem, with initial launches in mid-2019 and large-scale scaling in 2020.”
In a press release, the companies said “the maturity of the 5G industry is the foundation of 5G NR commercialization. Deutsche Telekom, Intel and Huawei will continue to deepen their cooperation and develop standardized products for the upcoming 5G era.”