Ericsson recently announced that it successfully reached a peak data rate of more than 1 gigabits per second (Gbps) for a single user device in a recent 5G Standalone (SA) field trial. The trial was done over a live Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) multi-operator, neutral-host-capable network at the company’s North American headquarters in Plano, Texas.
“We are excited to continue pushing the envelope of what is possible with 5G,” said Paul Challoner, vice president of Network Product Solutions for Ericsson North America. “Ericsson is committed to continue bringing the best technology to realize the full potential of 5G and CBRS early to the market to further catalyze the use of these advanced technologies.”
The OnGo Alliance coordinated the interoperability of the CBRS ecosystem. The trial took place on a network that a 5G core network supports and that is part of a 5G Distributed Innovation Network at Ericsson’s facility in North Texas. Radio 4408 was used for outdoor CBRS connectivity and the Radio Dot 4459 for indoor CBRS connectivity. Traditionally, indoor coverage has been challenging for networks. However, this was the first time that indoor, over-the-air coverage through shared spectrum has reached such a high data rate, according to Ericsson.
“Consumers and enterprises will benefit from the high-performing 5G CBRS technology that Ericsson is introducing,” said Alan Ewing, executive director of the OnGo Alliance. “Ongoing improvements to 5G technology for the CBRS ecosystem provide users with the highest performance and seamless connectivity, whether deployed standalone or with operator spectrum.”
Single CBRS user connection over 1Gbps was one of the key results of Ericsson’s field trial. The test also yielded 5G SA connection with CBRS spectrum and seamless outdoor-to-indoor transitions.
Ericsson Radio Dot 4459, the latest addition to the Ericsson Radio Dot portfolio, is designed to support CBRS and C-band deployments. The new CBRS indoor Radio Dot uses advanced radio technologies and leverages the entire 150 megahertz of the CBRS band. It supports up to five component carrier aggregation (5CC) on 4G and 5G carriers of up to 100MHz.
As a shared spectrum, CBRS has enabled innovative use cases over cellular networks since it was first introduced. These recent 5G gigabit speeds indoors and advanced capabilities give enterprises confidence that they can deploy private 5G networks with high speeds along with additional 5G benefits, such as reliability, coverage and mobility.
Communication service providers can also leverage CBRS for supplemental capacity where needed, such as inside buildings and venues with no added complexity. Additionally, neutral host network operators can deploy the highest performing wireless network, bringing superior coverage and capacity to their enterprise and service provider clients.
This combination of 5G over CBRS will deliver a variety of new applications for enterprises and sectors such as healthcare, energy and transportation. It will also likely increase the number of private networks and further propel the Industry 4.0 evolution. This capability is also expected to reinforce the importance of CBRS spectrum to the development and maturation of 5G.
