INGENIEUR
Huawei first released its CloudRAN solution last
year, and we’ve already finished the POC testing
with several tier-1 operators to verify performance
in terms of flexible network architecture. CloudRAN
is scheduled to support pre-commercial use in Q1
2018 and full commercial deployment by the end
of next year, along with 5G.
At last year's MBBF, we released CloudAIR,
which is designed to dynamically share spectrum,
breaking the limits of traditional spectrum
refarming.
This disruptive innovation enables different
access technologies to dynamically share the
same spectrum simultaneously according to traffic
changes, which significantly improves spectrum
and network efficiency.
LTE and NR can share spectrum in both
the time and frequency domains, so sharing
performance will be even better than that of the
current GUL, which will greatly accelerate NR
deployment on the low band in sharing mode
rather than traditional refarming, because it has
less impact on current 4G services.
We released CloudAIR1.0 in September
2017. And over 30 operators are expected to
commercially launch CloudAIR by the end of the
year. Next year, we expect over 100 operators to
be using this innovative solution.
With the joint effort of leading operators and
other industrial partners, LTE and NR spectrum-
sharing has already been accepted in 3GPP, and
will be supported in R15, which represents huge
progress for the whole industry.
Moving from refarming mode to sharing
mode is a milestone in the mobile
industry
Our next task is to upgrade CloudAIR 1.0 to 2.0.
Currently, 24% of spectrum can be dynamically
shared. This will reach around 44% in 2.0, which
means 10 MHz spectrum. LTE can use a full 10 MHz
while GSM can use up to 4.4 MHz simultaneously.
For LTE and NR, the proportion of shared
spectrums will reach almost 90% and they can
be shared by UL or DL and UL separately due
to support from the new R15 standard and new
NR devices. All 4G devices can support it. So
we can expect that in the 5G era, the spectrum
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sharing mode between LTE and NR will become
mainstream. Actually in 5G RFI and RFP, spectrum
sharing is already mandatory.
Greater collaboration
From the start, existing spectrum should be
allowed for 5G to support spectrum sharing.
The whole industry chain of 5G, especially
device and chipset vendors, should support this
feature based on 3GPP R15 .
Almost all vendors have released CloudAIR-
type spectrum sharing solutions, but continuous
R&D and innovation are necessary to further
improve sharing performance.
Is all this enough?
We don’t think so. In the future, network complexity
will far exceed what we can imagine.
In fact, optimization and maintenance will
increase one-hundred-fold, which will bring huge
challenges and ultra-high costs.
Future networks will be like a complex flyover
transportation system. If there’s a lack of an
intelligent coordination and scheduling, network
efficiency will decline sharply.
In addition, with the boom in new services,
service-oriented recognition and prediction will
be a basic condition to ensure user experience of
various services with limited network resources,
which will also need a new mechanism.
To address these challenges, we believe that
future wireless networks must be more intelligent
to make things simple.
Efficient network management: Wireless
intelligence
First, with intelligence, network O&M will be easier
and more efficient, and will gradually transform
from automated to autonomous, fully realizing
network potential for the best user experience and
network performance.
With wireless big data and machine learning
algorithms, networks will be more intelligent and
provide more new capabilities.