ETRI Develops 5G Standalone Mode Small Cell Software... Contributing to Domestic Equipment Production

ETRI SW Installed on Qualcomm Platform
Perceived Communication Speed Up...5G Coverage Expansion and Specialized Network Utilization Expected

Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) have demonstrated 5G standalone (SA) communication by applying small cell software developed by their team to the Qualcomm 5G RAN platform.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] Domestic researchers have developed a technology that can implement 5G without LTE assistance in small base stations. It is expected to be widely used in the future to provide users with large-capacity, high-quality data or to offer 5G specialized network services.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 25th that it has developed software technology for 5G standalone mode (SA) small cells. By utilizing this technology, connection is possible using only 5G technology in indoor buildings, densely populated areas, and shadow zones. This also helps distribute traffic, increase perceived communication speed, and provide various services.

5G services are divided into non-standalone mode (NSA), which uses both 4G and 5G networks, and standalone mode (SA), which uses only the 5G network. Since the commercialization of 5G, services have been provided in NSA mode, but with the recent start of SA services, there was a need for technology to implement small cells in standalone mode that provide the same functions as macro base stations while increasing transmission capacity and service area at a low cost.

ETRI developed communication software for 5G standalone mode small cells and deployed it on Qualcomm's FSM100 5G RAN platform (Qualcomm® FSM 5G RAN Platform) to build a 5G small cell standalone mode base station. Subsequently, the functionality was verified by communicating between the prototype created and commercial smartphones equipped with standalone mode functions.

The research team demonstrated educational services using augmented reality (AR) glasses, disaster safety messages, and VoNR. They showcased that using 5G, large-capacity content can be exchanged and services can be provided with more precise location and direction distinction than LTE-based technology.

Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) are operating a 5G small cell, 5G Core Emulator, and terminal diagnostic device to demonstrate 5G standalone mode communication.

The small cell software developed by ETRI uses the mid-band 3.5GHz frequency allocated to 5G and is evaluated to be optimized for the latest base station chipsets and given hardware environments currently developed. In the demonstration, it showed the maximum theoretical performance by simultaneously connecting 32 commercial 5G terminals. The research team stated that this achievement was possible by accumulating know-how over several years in gigabit high-speed data processing, 5G small cell scheduling technology supporting various frame structures, beam management algorithms, and more.

Ilkyu Kim, Head of the Mobile Communications Research Division at ETRI, said, “Following last year’s development of millimeter wave (mmWave) NSA small cell software, we have succeeded in securing core technology to localize various 5G small cell products by acquiring 5G SA small cell base station software technology.”

Geraldo Ziareta, Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, said, “We are pleased to be part of the successful development of ETRI’s 5G SA small cell software. We will continue to lead next-generation 5G small cell technology development with ETRI and accelerate the global spread of 5G.”

Sung-ho Choi, PM at the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion (IITP), said, “It is expected to greatly help commercialize small cell SME products competitively and to build 5G infrastructure or utilize various services such as 5G specialized networks.”

Fields Where 5G Small Cells Can Be Utilized

In the future, the research team plans to advance the technology according to next-generation standards in line with the 5G phased standards, and conduct follow-up research on core 5G technologies for performance improvement such as function splitting of small cells, cell placement, dynamic radio resource management algorithms, self-organizing networks, and multi-connectivity technologies.

Through this technology development, ETRI has filed 60 domestic and international patents and submitted 10 international standard contributions. Additionally, it transferred the 28GHz NSA small cell software technology developed last year to two companies and is currently working on technology transfer for the newly developed 3.5GHz SA small cell software technology.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.