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Lead by James Kimery, various experts from National Instruments cover the latest research and activities going on in the race toward 5G advanced communications systems.
When the 3GPP announced the beginning of 5G development back in 2015, the group proposed many performance objectives pertaining to all aspects of the network. Eventually the 3GPP distilled the various metrics down to three distinct use cases: enhanced mobile broad band (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). There has been much written and published on the eMBB use case and even the mMTC to a lesser extent with the anticipation of smarter devices and pervasive IoT. Although the URLLC use case has garnered less attention, it may in fact prove more impactful than either of the former use cases.
In my last blog, I touched on several aspects of using mmWave spectrum for 5G mobile access that present formidable challenges still under investigation. During the recent RAN1 meeting in Prague, the issue of beams surfaced and progress was made to define the 5G physical layer to address the control and management of these beams.
As the 3GPP standardization body moves toward finalizing the first 5G specifications in December of this year, several challenges lie ahead on the road to making 5G the transformative catalyst industry experts have been predicting. Perhaps overlooked in the 5G excitement are the daunting challenges instrumentation companies face to meet the commercialization timelines.
Last July, the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) along with 26 founding companies announced their intention to build four testbeds in locations across the United States. Learn more about these efforts in this posting.
At the beginning of any new standardization effort, one of the first and most critical steps is to measure the wireless channel at possible deployment frequencies. Researchers use these measurements to understand how wireless channels behave in a target environment.
Collaborations between universities and industry are vitally important to moving innovative research forward, and this work between BT and Bristol is a great example of this type of collaboration to move Massive MIMO from theory to reality.
In early December, I attended the 3GPP RAN#74 TSG meeting in Vienna, Austria. This was the last plenary meeting before the official 5G work item (WI) kicks off at the 5G RAN #75 meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia in March. The 3GPP membership has poured a lot of investment into the study of new technologies and methods to meet the 5G architecture requirements, and with the first big milestone just three short months away, here are a few high level takeaways from the 3GPP Workshop covering 5G.
In October, I traveled to Asia with stops in China and South Korea. While in China, I gave a talk on 5G at the Wireless Communications and Signal Processing conference (WCSP) in beautiful Yangzhou. I met with several researchers at the conference and was also able to travel to Nanjing to meet with professors at Southeast University (SEU). As you can imagine, wireless researchers are focused on mmWave and Massive MIMO.
In early September, I attended the 3GPP RAN #73 plenary meeting in New Orleans. Even though we were in New Orleans, this was no party. Members submitted 528 documents for review, and over 250 participants from 135 different entities attended with a commitment to evolve our wireless standards to address the growing demands of the market.
Every summer, the dogs days of August hit Texas where each new day resembles the last - hot, dry and sunny. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sun and the outdoors, but the heat can start to wear on you during the long summer months. For us wireless folks, however, this summer was unlike any other – full of surprises, world records, and teeming with the promise of new mountains to climb.
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Very helpful article, thank you