ZTE: 5G Advanced can grab interest of industry verticals

The early days of 5G New Radio (NR) failed to ignite widespread enthusiasm among different industry verticals. There was no headlong rush to adopt the technology to enable private wireless networks, and any hopes held by mobile network operators that 5G would immediately open the door to new enterprise revenue streams were quickly dashed.

“Existing 5G technologies have not been capable enough to satisfy the needs of industry verticals, but we see that changing with the arrival of 5G Advanced,” Gao Yuan, Standard Integration Project Manager at ZTE, told Light Reading. “There’s a huge amount of 5G potential for operators and vendors to attract more enterprise customers.”

One reason for Gao’s optimism is that 5G Advanced promises much higher uplink speeds, up to 10 Gbit/s, compared with the more sedentary sub-1 Gbit/s typically offered by today’s 5G networks.

“Remote-controlled robotics in factories, video recognition in production, AR [augmented reality] display, as well as remote vehicle-driving – coupled with existing low latency capabilities – can all benefit from higher uplink throughput,” said Gao.

Yet better uplink performance is only one part of the 5G Advance picture. “We can enhance a wide range of existing 5G technologies from earlier 3GPP Releases, and roll out an intelligent, low-carbon, and ubiquitous network with new, energy-saving technologies,” Gao added. “Increased use of AI/ML [artificial intelligence/machine learning] will optimize the operations of 5G systems and adapt them to better support AI apps.”

On the road to Release 18…

Baseline 5G systems were specified in 3GPP Releases 15 and 16, which were completed, respectively, in June 2019 and July 2020. Improvements and new features were then added through Release 17, which was done and dusted in June 2022.

It is 3GPP Release 18, however, which heralds the introduction of 5G Advanced.

Expected to be signed off in March 2024, Release 18 builds on specifications for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLCC) and massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) laid out in Releases 15 and 16.

Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB), massive Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) performance, Radio Access Network (RAN) slicing, and use of millimetre wave spectrum (up to 71GHz) – some of the features flagged in Release 17 – will also be improved upon.

Moreover, 5G Advanced places firm emphasis on AI/ML to improve network energy efficiencies through clever use of AI algorithms and ML, as well as delivery of Extended Reality (XR) services.

“We have the potential to provide an extreme communications experience,” asserted Gao.

…with ZTE input

ZTE is involved in many of the work and study items related to 3GPP Release 18. One area in which it’s taking the lead is NR network-controlled repeaters. Industry discussions, led by ZTE, are already underway. “Network-controlled repeaters and their associated technologies will be vital to extending 5G coverage and generating greater operational efficiencies,” said Gao.

Traditional radio frequency repeaters have of course long been used to extend network coverage, but they are limited to amplifying and forwarding signals received from base stations.

With 3GPP Release 18, however, NR network-controlled repeaters will not only amplify and forward received signals from a 5G NR base station (gNB), but also receive and process side control information from the network to perform its amplify and forward operation in a more efficient manner. So-called “side control information” of this sort may include beam information, time division duplex (TDD) DL-UL configurations, and ON-OFF information.

Another aspect of Release 18 where ZTE is taking a lead, although 3GPP work is not expected to start in earnest on this until early-2023, is Mobile Terminated-Small Data Transmission (MT-SDT) for NR. “We’re aiming to reduce signal overhead and power consumption of small and infrequent packets for downlink NR traffic by enabling transmission in RRC_INACTIVE state directly without transitioning to RRC_CONNECTED state,” Gao said.

After 3GPP Release 18, expected to be finalized in March 2024, Gao expects commercial adoption in China the following year. “Each MNO, especially China Mobile, is keen to get ahead with 5G-Advanced because of the opportunity to extend the 5G market to industry verticals,” she added.

Gao argued, too, that 5G Advanced will serve as “foundation” for 6G rather than eliminate the need for it. She noted that IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group, a flagship platform in China to promote 6G R&D and international cooperation, has already latched onto areas for further development identified by Release 18, such as Satellite-Terrestrial Integrated Networks and immersive XR. “5G Advanced smooths the path for 6G,” said Gao.

Energy savings

ZTE’s work on 5G and 5G-Advanced has a common thread running through it: reducing RAN power consumption and lowering carbon emissions as much as possible. With energy prices soaring, extracting greater energy efficiencies has become even more urgent.

According to ZTE, it has developed something unique to tackle this problem: an ‘intelligent’ baseband unit (BBU) controlled by a cloud AI platform. Base stations, using this system, can automatically be put into ‘deep sleep’ at times of low user demand.

With AI-based “in-depth learning,” the strategy for enabling and disabling the energy-saving features can be automatically formulated through historical traffic analysis. Moreover, wireless users can be navigated to the most proper technology or band, according to their traffic demand. Inter-cell energy-saving policy coordination can also be realized via AI, improving energy-saving gains.

ZTE has started testing these features in various Chinese provinces. “When in it comes to 5G energy savings,” said Gao, “we’re on the leader board.”

This content is sponsored by ZTE.