Road to 5G – Taking the Vision from Ideas to Reality

By: Sudhir Tangri - Country General Manager, Keysight Technologies, India

The next generation of mobile communications will launch us forward with more data, more connectivity and lightning fast speeds — moving us into a new age.

The race to define 5G architecture is getting gradually written in stone, but the process to design & deploy 5G technology is just beginning. Industry is making rapid progress but there’s still more work to be done. While wireless network operators are working in various forms, including proprietary pre-5G implementations, these early trials are mostly focused on delivering broadband wireless to fixed locations, called Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). These deployments will not only deliver immediate value to customers but also allow the industry to gain experience with New radio (NR) and higher frequency bands.  

A major milestone was the release of the first NR standard, known as the Non-Standalone (NSA) Release 15 specification. “Non-Standalone” means that the 5G network is dependent upon the existing LTE evolved packet core (EPC) network and an LTE “anchor” carrier for control signaling aggregated with an NR carrier for data. Industry leaders pushed for and got the NSA early release to expedite their deployments. The full up (Stand Alone) Release 15 using the next generation (NG) core network and NR air interface is due out in June 2018. This phased approach makes a lot of sense for a complex system like 5G. 

Keysight is 5G Ready!

"Keysight has partnered early with industry-leading chipset & device makers to deliver a common set of 5G design & simulation resources that can be used across the 5G ecosystem," stated Sudhir Tangri, Keysight India Country General Manager. "Keysight's solutions accurately emulate the network, measure 5G devices, base stations and massive subscriber behavior scenarios to reduce errors & speed cycle time. Keysight has applied its expertise in radio frequency, mmWave, protocol & IP networking to develop solutions that enable chipset makers to master complexities of 5G & quickly innovate, transform & win in the market." Tangri said

Keysight has demonstrated industry's first 4Gbps data throughput at 28GHz with its 5G network emulator integrated with mmWave over the air (OTA) solutions for radio frequency, functional & performance test. It has also demonstrated industry leadership with the  first integrated cellular + Wi-Fi protocol verification solution, which enables network operators to simultaneously test cellular & Wi-Fi cellular signaling from data traffic generation to physical transmission from layers 1 to 7. This comprehensive testing enables network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) to verify interoperability of devices in licensed & unlicensed spectrums, while significantly reducing time-to-market.

Keysight also enables device ecosystem to cost-effectively perform 5G mmWave device validation & ramp early production with its 5G non-signaling mmWave transceiver solution.  This covers 28GHz & 39GHz frequency bands. It also enables manufacturers to move from R & D to design verification test (DVT) and manufacturing. It also offers flexible & easy set up for 5G mmWave test scenarios with multiple devices under test using to the latest 5G NR standard.

In summary, Keysight helps the wireless ecosystem to predict, mitigate & solve 5G design & test challenges by supporting Engineers at different stages of the development lifecycle; by providing customer friendly solutions & doing whatever it takes to get that first mover advantage in a highly competitive market resulting in innovation as customers transform 5G ideas to reality!