Test results showed that the single-user downlink rate boosted by 54.4% and downlink single-cell capacity increased to 5.3 Gbps.

June 11, 2021

2 Min Read
China Mobile Beijing Deploys Huawei's 5G Indoor Distributed Massive MIMO

Recently, China Mobile Beijing completed multi-user and single-user verification tests of Huawei's industry-leading 5G indoor distributed Massive MIMO at the Beijing Capital International Airport and in a large hospital in Beijing's Dongcheng district. The test results showed that the single-user downlink rate increased by 54.4% at the airport, while the single-cell downlink capacity increased by 3.8 times to 5.3 Gbps in the hospital. This marked improvement has significantly enhanced user experience.

80% of 5G services occur indoors. To fulfill the huge traffic demand in indoor areas that have a high density of users, pRRU base stations must be densely deployed and cell splitting is commonly implemented to increase capacity. At the test sites, there is often a staggeringly high density of mobile users due to the large size of these indoor areas, meaning that the traffic load frequently soars. This limits the gains for overall capacity through cell splitting. By applying outdoor Massive MIMO technology to indoor networks, distributed massive MIMO combines multiple 4T4R indoor distributed cells to form a single cell, thus turning interference into enhanced signal strength. It uses joint beamforming and MU-MIMO to significantly improve capacity and user experience.

Figure 1: Concurrent speed tests on four devices in the hospital Concurrent speed tests on four devices in the hospital

Four devices were used to test the performance of indoor distributed Massive MIMO in the hospital. The results showed that the tests at the Beijing Capital International Airport showed a 54.4% boost in the average single-user downlink rate, and the single-cell downlink capacity reached 5.3 Gbps, 3.8 times higher than with traditional solutions.

As 5G terminals become more prevalent and industrial applications continue to expand across verticals, indoor traffic will grow rapidly. The indoor distributed Massive MIMO technology is an ideal choice for carriers to meet the skyrocketing traffic demand in large public places and empower 5GtoB services with enormous capacity and high speed. China Mobile Beijing will continue to work with Huawei to explore innovative solutions and accelerate the construction of 5G infrastructure to supercharge digital transformation across verticals.

This content is sponsored by Huawei.

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