Sprint and Samsung Test Massive MIMO Technology in South Korea
June 20 2017 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Companies prepare for U.S. deployment of
Massive MIMO to dramatically boost LTE Plus capacity and coverage
and offer Gigabit LTE
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.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005495/en/
Media:SprintAdrienne Norton,
425-256-7014adrienne.norton@sprint.com
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