ZTE has announced it has completed the commercial deployment and multi-scenario test verification of 3D-MIMO with China Mobile. China Mobile, China Mobile Zhejiang and the China Mobile Jiaxing Branch have completed the commercial deployment and multi-scenario test verification of 3D multiple input multiple output (3D-MIMO), namely Pre5G Massive MIMO, in Jiaxing. China Mobile and ZTE have deployed, since December 2016, a new generation of broadband 3D-MIMO base stations in Jiaxing and conducted verification tests in various scenarios, such as large-traffic scenarios in universities or 3D in-depth coverage in high-rise residential buildings.
A university located in the west of Jiaxing City has nearly 10,000 staff, as well as buildings for classes, canteens, dormitories and families. Using 5G Massive MIMO technology in 4G networks, the service is designed to enhance 4G network speed and capacity as well as the use of the existing network spectrum. By increasing the downlink capacity 3–5 times and uplink capacity 4–6 times, this service provides 4G users with 5G-like access experience on LTE user equipment, ZTE said.
After the 3D-MIMO site was commissioned in Jiaxing, the cell throughput in busy hours has increased. With the three carriers on the 3D-MIMO site, the downlink field rate reached 1Gbps, which is 3 times that of macro base stations (BS), and the uplink performance reached a peak rate of 237 Mbps. According to ZTE, by sharing the traffic of super-busy cells, the 3D-MIMO site reduces the resource occupancy of 8T macro-station cells and upgrades the service throughput in the coverage area.
ZTE also reports that test results of the Jiaxing 3D-MIMO site showed that, compared to co-frequency 8T macro stations with the same coverage, the uplink and downlink spectrum efficiency of small-packet services (such as web page browsing and WeChat) is increased by 2–3 times on average, and the spectrum efficiency of large-packet services (for example file download) is even higher. Up to 800 commercial users were in the cell during the test. By using the 3D beamforming technology and targeting users accurately, the 3D-MIMO base station suppresses interference, enhances the perception of users on cell edges, allows commercial users to stay online, and increases user traffic in the coverage area, ZTE added.
