SKT, Ericsson and Qualcomm collaborate on 5G NR trails

SK Telecom, Ericsson and Qualcomm have announced plans to conduct interoperability testing and over-the-air field trials based on 5G New Radio (NR) standards currently under development by the 3GPP.

In a statement, the companies said the trials will drive the mobile ecosystem toward rapid validation and commercialization of 5G NR technologies at scale.

The interoperability testing and trials will launch in Korea starting in the second half of 2017.

“As 5G rapidly gains momentum, a globally agreed and unified standard becomes imperative to achieve early commercialization of 5G and build an efficient ecosystem around it,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, EVP, chief technology officer at SK Telecom.

“As 3GPP NR is a global 5G standard, we are delighted to announce early 3GPP NR trials with leading 5G players, Ericsson and Qualcomm, with which we have made remarkable world’s first footprints in the past with previous generations of groundbreaking mobile technologies.”

During the trails, SK Telecom, Ericsson and Qualcomm will showcase new 5G NR technologies which utilize wide bandwidths available at higher frequencies to increase network capacity and achieve multi-gigabit per second data rates.

The proliferation of 5G NR technology can make it more cost-effective and easier for multi-gigabit internet service to reach more homes and businesses.

These technologies will be critical to meeting the increasing consumer connectivity requirements for emerging consumer mobile broadband experiences such as virtual reality, augmented reality and connected cloud services.

The trials will employ 3GPP 5G NR Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology with adaptive beamforming and beam tracking techniques to deliver sustained mobile broadband communications at higher frequency bands, including non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments and device mobility.

It will also make use of scalable OFDM-based waveforms and a new flexible framework design which are also part of the 5G NR specifications.

The trials will also provide valuable insight into the unique challenges of integrating 5G NR technologies into mobile networks and devices. This will enable timely commercial network launches based on 3GPP Rel-15 standard compliant 5G NR infrastructure and devices.

“The roadmap of 5G technologies is incredibly complex, and trials based on the global 3GPP 5G standard, such as this, are critical to continuing our long history of leadership integrating advanced wireless technologies in form-factor accurate devices to ensure timely deployment of 5G networks,” said Matt Grob, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Qualcomm Technologies.