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 Nokia and AT&T announced that they are collaborating to further advance 5G technology in the 39-GHz band by completing fixed wireless 5G tests with AT&T’s Internet TV streaming service, DIRECTV NOW. Nokia achieved this world’s first by delivering a 39-GHz system based on its commercially available AirScale radio access platform.
The test demonstrates how new services can be successfully delivered with new technologies operating at high frequencies. Both the 39- and 28-GHz band are particularly attractive due to the large bandwidth available. However, there is significantly more bandwidth available in the 39 GHz band, which makes it a strong candidate to support 5G deployments. Nokia began testing mm-wave technology with AT&T in 2016.
For its recent tests of DIRECTV NOW over 39 GHz, Nokia delivered a 5G radio access system, conducting the trial at the AT&T Labs facility in Middletown, New Jersey. The results from this world’s first trial will help advance the viability of 39 GHz, which AT&T expects to play a key role in 5G development and deployment. The testing of DIRECTV NOW also demonstrates 5G’s promise of providing new experiences to end users with its ultralow network latency and higher throughput.
Huawei completed field tests on 5G terminals with a wide bandwidth of 200 MHz on the 3.5-GHz carrier. A battery-powered, 5G terminal prototype was configured with a miniature multiantenna to transmit and receive RF signals, and the terminal supports software-defined baseband.
The test terminal complies with air interface parameters of the NR currently been defined by 3GPP. For enhanced-mobile broadband test cases with the massive-MIMO macro base station setup scenario, the 5G terminal throughput can reach up to 5 Gb/s at downlink. The test results prove the feasibility of key 5G technologies and further validate the small size multi-antennas technology for 5G terminals in the phone form-factor, representing significant progress in 5G technology innovation.
NTT DOCOMO announced that it has concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CAICT to jointly investigate the standardization of 5G technologies and available frequency bands, effective immediately. CAICT is in charge of policies and standardization strategies on information and communication in China.
Based on the MOU, DOCOMO will start to participate in the 5G trial launched by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, which was established at CAICT’s initiative on 19 February 2013 to verify 5G technologies and systems. The group is driving research and development to help standardize 5G technologies in China as quickly as possible. During the trial, DOCOMO and CAICT will also study possible frequency bands for 5G networks.
In cooperation with SoftBank Group, Huawei recently completed the world’s first massive MIMO verification test using the operator’s 40-MHz spectrum on the 3.5-GHz band in Tokyo, Japan. The two companies adopted massive MIMO and multicarrier technologies with a peak downlink rate reaching 1.4 Gb/s.
The test represents another collaboration regarding massive MIMO between the two companies since September 2016, when SoftBank announced the 5G Project program using the 2.5-GHz band on the TDD (AXGP) commercial network operated by Wireless City Planning, a SoftBank Group company. This verification test was the world’s first massive MIMO trial on the 3.5-GHz band.
The 3.5-GHz band has already gained a reputation as one of the most popular bands throughout the world. This offers a great opportunity for the global development of LTE TDD, and it has grown increasingly important as a 5G catalyst to assume the spotlight position of the global mobile industry.
Full article: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, Volume 12, Number 2, June 2017 | 
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