NI is embarking on a collaborative effort with Nokia on advanced research related to 5G wireless technologies. The companies have built a proof-of-concept (PoC) system using NI LabVIEW software and NI PXI hardware. This milestone follows announcements about NI's work with institutions conducting 5G research such as NYU Wireless, Lund University, TU-Dresden and the University of Edinburgh.
Today's announcement notes that NI is working with Nokia’s Networks business to collaborate on advanced research related to the exploration of peak data rates and cell-edge rates in excess of 10 Gb/s and 100 Mb/s, respectively.
Nokia plans to use NI’s integrated hardware and software baseband platform to expedite its research and rapidly demonstrate the viability of high-frequency millimeter wave as an option for 5G radio access technology. “Our experimental 5G Proof-of-Concept system will be implemented using NI’s LabVIEW and PXI baseband modules, which is the state-of-art experimental system for rapid prototyping of 5G air interface available today,” said Lauri Oksanen, vice president of research and technology at Nokia.
“We are thrilled to work with Nokia on this project and others involving wireless research,” said Eric Starkloff, NI executive vice president of global sales and marketing. “Our software-defined platform based on LabVIEW and PXI is ideal for researching and prototyping standards such as 5G.” Starkloff detailed NI's platform-based approach to 5G at last month's Brooklyn 5G Summit.
For its part, Nokia announced on May 8 that the company and NTT DOCOMO have agreed to collaborate on research and standardization of 5G technologies and to work jointly on a 5G proof-of-concept (PoC) system. “We chose Nokia as our partner for the 5G research project based on its clear vision as well as its extensive mobile broadband experience and technology leadership,” said Dr. Seizo Onoe, Chief Technology Officer at NTT DOCOMO.
Nokia sad the initial focus is on exploring the potential of the millimeter wave technology at the 70-GHz spectrum band. The experimental 5G PoC system incorporates NI baseband modules for rapid prototyping of 5G air interfaces.
“Expanding our cooperation with NTT DOCOMO on 5G radio technology is an important step towards defining future mobile networks,” said Hossein Moiin, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Nokia Networks. “Future wireless networks will interconnect not just humans but also machines and objects, creating a vibrant overlay of virtual and physical worlds with a huge variety of use cases. Together with the industry, we need to make sure that 5G technology offers the right tenets to serve these use cases flexibly and profitably.”