Girish Baliga, Business Development Manager, Keysight Technologies, India
With 5G technology evolution on the horizon, one can feel the momentum, excitement and even tension building up in the wireless industry. 3GPP is accelerating the new radio (NR) standard and mobile network operators are fast-tracking their deployment plans. Mobile data demand continues to grow rapidly and new device categories such as virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, connected and autonomous cars, and cloud-based artificial intelligence-enabled home assistants are gaining traction and are poised to take advantage of the new 5G infrastructure.
Although massive machine type communications (mMTC) are taking a back seat to enhanced mobile broadband (eMMB) in the initial 5G standard, operators are deploying new cellular internet of things (IoT) technologies, such as NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) and CAT-M, yielding new business models to more industry verticals.
Opportunities abound, as do challenges. To unleash the 5G business potential, chipset and device engineers must overcome significant challenges in the technology evolution and revolution – millimetre-wave (mmWave) propagation and channel modelling, wideband calibration, antenna complexity, 3D beamforming, over-the-air measurements, protocol optimisation for peak data throughput, digital interface capacity, battery life, and the list goes on.
These 5G challenges and innovations require rigorous testing with state-of-the-art electronic test and measurement (T&M) systems that will be used for design, simulation, test and analysis at mmWave frequencies. 5G market leaders across the globe rely on Keysight’s experience and expertise in RF and protocol test to speed up the delivery of the latest technologies.
Global collaborations for 5G technologies
The list of technical issues in the realisation of 5G is not only long but also complex. Teamwork is necessary to get all the answers. Operator trials around the world are demonstrating promising results and continue to progress towards commercialisation. The path to 5G is forming through the 4G evolution and pre-5G activities. While there is the concern about the “killer 5G use case”, we see multiple ideas evolving over time – from stand-alone fixed wireless access for the home to non-stand-alone mobile access with interworking between traditional long term evolution (LTE) networks and the new 5G standard. Regulators are also opening new spectrum between 3 GHz and 5 GHz for wireless applications.
Industry-leading chipset vendors have publicly announced 5G modem solutions that will support NR in both sub-6 GHz and mmWave as well as legacy cellular formats. The breadth of the new technology, the addition of legacy technology, the mix of use cases, and the range of carrier frequency and bandwidth constitute a huge map of complexity. Collaboration is necessary for success. Recently, Qualcomm utilised Keysight’s 5G test solutions to test its 5G chipsets and to help it accelerate its commercialisation strategy.
Enabling the fastest path to 5G
Being the first and the best in 5G depends on tools that let you explore new signals, scenarios and topologies. T&M vendors are developing 5G test solutions that enable deeper insights as the development of the standard evolves. The latest 5G test solutions from Keysight include SystemVue, which provides simulation libraries for 5G tests that enable engineers to explore new signals, scenarios and topologies; test systems for channel sounding, new waveforms and wideband mmWave systems; high performance oscilloscopes that provide gigabit digital views into time and frequency domains; and the 5G protocol research and development (R&D) toolset, which addresses diverse global spectrum requirements and efficiently prototypes advanced 5G protocol features (both for pre-5G and 3GPP 5G NR), including beamforming at mmWave frequencies and non-stand-alone use cases. Implementing and validating the new capabilities of NR will be particularly challenging given new capabilities like flexible numerology, channel codes and the management of active antenna systems.
To develop 5G test solutions, it is imperative that R&D and application engineers from T&M vendors work closely with visionaries and innovators in the wireless industry to achieve the elusive breakthroughs that advance technology. Together, these groups of individuals develop standards and identify the optimal way to test them. For example, Keysight experts are actively working with governing standards bodies such as PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group), (USB IF (USB Implementers Forum), JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council), MIPI Alliance, CEI (Common Electrical Interface), OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum), 3GPP, IEEE and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) to define the wireless and digital industry standards for the future.
What’s next?
The tone of the recent public 5G events is a mix of hype, amazing technology and anxiety about how best to succeed in this industry. It is up to us on the technology side to be ready for the innovative business ideas that will fully utilise the 5G network.
