Sprint and Samsung America said they have tested Massive MIMO on 2.5 GHz spectrum in Suwon, the capital of Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. The test represented a real-world application of new technology that Sprint says will dramatically boost LTE Plus wireless capacity and coverage, and enable it to offer Gigabit LTE service to its customers.
Massive MIMO can be deployed on 2.5 GHz spectrum due to the small form factor of the radios needed for a high frequency band. 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 US 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 to prepare for the commercial deployment of Massive MIMO in the US and other markets.
