MediaTek exhibits 5G in space using a smartphone

While European telecom equipment manufacturers Ericsson and Nokia are also working to demonstrate 5G from space with their respective industry partners, Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek claimed to have reached a new "5G milestone" by powering a smartphone with a 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) connection in a test lab.

According to an official announcement, the demonstration was accomplished in a MediaTek lab utilising Rohde & Schwarz test tools and simulating a genuine low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation at 600km height.

Gerald Tietscher, Vice President Signal Generators Product Division at Rohde & Schwarz, said, ”Ubiquitous connectivity is an important societal goal and Rohde & Schwarz is committed to providing test and measurement solutions that will help to bring the latest enabling technologies to the market.”

This indicates the potential for enabling satellite communications(Satcom) with 5G commercial smartphone technology, the statement added.

HC Hwang, General Manager of Wireless Communication System and Partnership at MediaTek said, “This milestone continues MediaTek’s long track record of 5G R&D innovations,With this test, MediaTek successfully validated the capability of connecting a 5G smartphone to satellite networks, opening up the door for 5G satellite network development to bring ubiquitous connectivity around the world.” mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#252525;background:#EDFAFF">

The 3GPP Release-17 compliant NR NTN test chip from MediaTek, which was coupled to the test gNB by ITRI, provided power to the smartphone.

The experience according to MediaTek, also demonstrates how 5G NTN technology can be applied to satellite communications by using the same form factor and design elements as a typical smartphone. 5G NTN technology will help boost service reliability across the globe by harnessing existing terrestrial networks and economies of scale in the cellular sector, making fast and reliable 5G connectivity much more accessible in unserved and underserved areas. In addition to the consumer use cases for expanded 5G access, there are a number of business and enterprise use cases including critical communications, transportation, agriculture, fleet and heavy machine management and Internet of Things (IoT). "Times New Roman";color:#252525;background:#EDFAFF">

“In this lab testing, ITRI proves that its gNB (CU, DU, and RU) technology can be fully integrated into an NR NTN communication system,” said Dr. Pang-An Ting, General Director of Information and Communications Research Laboratories at ITRI. “As a frontier developer, we see a promising future of 3GPP NTN communication, as it supports wider coverage and seamless connectivity service while integrating with terrestrial networks.” He added.