Companies prepare for U.S. deployment of Massive MIMO to dramatically
boost LTE Plus capacity and coverage and offer Gigabit LTE
Company Website:
http://www.sprint.com
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- (Business Wire)
On the streets of Suwon, South Korea, Sprint (NYSE:S) and Samsung
Electronics America, Inc. recently tested Massive MIMO (multiple input,
multiple output) on 2.5 GHz spectrum. The Massive MIMO test represented
a real-world application of the new technology, slated to help Sprint
dramatically boost LTE Plus wireless capacity and coverage, and offer
Gigabit LTE service to its customers.
“The testing in South Korea is an important step towards deploying
Massive MIMO in our U.S. network where it will be a key element of LTE
Plus as well as 5G,” said Günther Ottendorfer, Chief Operating Officer –
Technology, at Sprint. “Massive MIMO is a tremendous differentiator for
Sprint because it is easily deployed on 2.5 GHz spectrum due to the
small form factor of the radios needed for a high frequency band. In
lower frequency bands, wavelengths are much longer and therefore the
radios require much larger, impractical form factors. This makes Massive
MIMO an important tool for unleashing our deep 2.5 GHz spectrum
holdings.”
During field testing in Suwon, Massive MIMO Samsung radios, equipped
with vertical and horizontal beam-forming technology, reached peak
speeds of 330 Mbps per channel using a 20 MHz channel of 2.5 GHz
spectrum. Capacity per channel increased about four times, cell edge
performance increased three times, and overall coverage area improved as
compared to current radios.
Sprint has deployed 8T8R (8 transmit, 8 receive) radios across its U.S.
network, and the purpose of the test was to compare the performance of
Massive MIMO radios with 8T8R radios. Sprint, in collaboration with
Samsung wrote the test cases and requirements, which included a variety
of performance scenarios involving multi-user and non-stationary
testing. Samsung provided the Massive MIMO network infrastructure as
well as test network design, operation, data collection and
processing. Both companies will use the results in preparation for
commercial deployment of Massive MIMO in the U.S. and other markets.
“Our recent testing in Suwon delivered impressive capacity and coverage
improvements in a real world environment, demonstrating how massive MIMO
will greatly improve a customer’s wireless service experience,” said
Mark Louison, Senior VP and General Manager of Samsung Networks.
“Samsung is excited to reach this important milestone with Sprint, as we
continue to develop the commercial solution for the coming year that is
expected to provide nearly 8x capacity improvements. This is another
innovation Samsung will deliver to our technology-forward customers who
operate some of the most data-intensive networks in the world.”
Gigabit Speed with Massive MIMO
Massive MIMO radios use more antenna elements. For example, 64T64R (64
transmit, 64 receive) uses 128 antenna elements, whereas 2T2R/4T4R/8T8R
is used in a typical 4G LTE network today. These Massive MIMO antennas
use advanced horizontal and vertical beamforming technology to focus and
transmit cellular signals into targeted locations. This more efficient
use of spectrum delivers faster speeds and provides more data capacity
to customers in high-traffic locations. When deployed on the network,
Massive MIMO can provide all mobile device users with performance
improvements, and those with the latest generation of devices with the
most antenna elements will see the best performance. Massive MIMO, a key
element of 5G slated to provide high capacity in densely populated urban
centers, can enable LTE network performance well beyond 1 Gbps.
In cities across the U.S., Sprint plans to deploy Massive MIMO radios
with 128 antenna elements (64T64R) using its 2.5 GHz spectrum to
increase capacity up to eight times. In March, Sprint was the first U.S.
carrier to debut
Gigabit Class LTE on a live commercial network in New Orleans. There
Sprint used three-channel carrier aggregation and 60 MHz of 2.5 GHz
spectrum, in combination with 4X4 MIMO and 256-QAM higher order
modulation, to achieve Category 16 LTE download data speeds on a TDD
network. With Massive MIMO radios using 64T64R, Sprint has the ability
to push capacity beyond 1 Gbps to reach 3-6 Gbps per sector.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE:S) is a communications services company that creates more
and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about
most. Sprint served 59.7 million connections as of March 31, 2017 and is
widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative
technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national
carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including
Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant
national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier
1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You
can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com
or www.facebook.com/sprint
and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America,
Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovative leader in consumer electronics,
mobile devices and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA is pushing beyond the limits of
today’s technology and providing consumers and organizations with a
portfolio of groundbreaking products in appliances, home entertainment,
Internet of Things, mobile computing, smartphones, virtual reality,
wireless infrastructure and wearables, in addition to offering leading
content and services related to mobile payments, 360-degree VR video,
customer support and more. Samsung is a pioneering leader in smartphones
and HDTVs in the U.S. and one of America’s fastest growing home
appliance brands. To discover more about Samsung, please visit www.samsung.com.
For the latest Samsung news, please visit news.samsung.com/us and follow
us @SamsungNewsUS.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005495/en/
Contacts:
Media:
Sprint
Adrienne Norton, 425-256-7014
adrienne.norton@sprint.com
Source: Sprint
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