The Vodafone Group has teamed up with Telecom Infra Project (TIP), Cohere Technologies, VMware, Capgemini Engineering and Intel to demonstrate how Open Radio Access Network (RAN) technology can be used to boost the capacity of 5G where multiple customers are using the same site. The partners conducted a laboratory test that increased the capacity of a 5G cell site by two-fold using a programmable, AI-based RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) supporting a mix of Open RAN components from multiple vendors.
In a joint statement, the companies involved described the trial as a key milestone in demonstrating the potential of RIC at the heart of an Open RAN installation, adding that the test was the first demonstration of 5G Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) running on a RIC located at a multi-vendor Open RAN test site. MU-MIMO serves to apportion ample bandwidth to individual users connected to the same mobile site and is considered the pivotal technique to boost cell capacity in future 5G networks, they said.
Cohere added that the trial showed its Spectrum Multiplier MU-MIMO software can be commercially deployed in a low-band (e.g. 700MHz) network to double the capacity achieved using traditional MIMO. It can also can be extended to Massive MIMO in mid-band (e.g. 3.5GHz) networks to push capacity gains towards 4-5x.
