First, We need to understand the most important question, Why do we need to change our RAN from a traditional setup to a more flexible one? The Answer is: Heavy Data Growth Each new mobile technology generation has delivered greater data rates to mobile devices, and mobile users have moved more and more of their […]

O-RAN’s proposed concepts and architectures use a split-RAN concept. There are eight known ways to functionally split the RAN, and each one proposes splitting the processing so that different parts of the protocol stack process on different hardware. The below figure summarizes the eight options: O-RAN proposes using option 7-2 which splits the physical layer […]

Not all radio spectrums are equal. Sub 1GHz offers the best coverage profile; however, the amount of low band spectrum available is limited. Frequency range two (FR2), i.e. greater than 6GHz, offers a large amount of spectrum with a significantly wide bandwidth (up to 400MHz), but it offers limited coverage. In fact, it is an […]

Federal Communications Commission FCC auctioned the C-band spectrum between 3.7-3.98 GHz in early 2021. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that the new 5G technology could interfere with instruments such as altimeters, which measure how far above the ground an airplane is traveling. The Pentagon believes, the focus should be on preventing interference to […]

In the high-level network architecture, the RAN is represented as a single functional entity whereas in reality the realization of a 5G RAN is not so straightforward. In GSM/GPRS and UMTS there was a network controller [BSC and RNC] which provided an interface between the radio access network and the core network. This network controller […]

The Road to Open RAN is not easy one, there are a series of steps should be taken before migration or starting design the network architecture based on Open RAN. Either you’re a green field needs to start a new network from scratch or even a brown field and re-think of the open RAN concept, […]

For mobile operators, 5G is far more than a faster version of the 4G/LTE standard. 5G will be an entirely new networking architecture — “a network of networks” — with multiple access technologies such as Wi-Fi, small cells, and traditional mobile wireless networks as well as terrestrial and satellite. Satellites will play a vital role […]

Although the request for data services is the primary driver behind the growth and evolution of 5G, voice service is still an indispensable part of mobile communication network. The Voice over New Radio (VoNR) feature provided in 5G is similar to VoLTE in 4G. VoNR is a voice solution based on IMS in 5G SA […]

The authentication procedure in 3GPP 5G security has been designed as a framework to support the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) – a security protocol specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) organization. This protocol is well established and widely used in IT environments. The advantage of this protocol is that it allows the use […]

The first thing that came to my mind when Facebook CEO Mark announced to change the name of his mega applications (Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, .. etc) to META or Metaverse technology, is METASURFACE. What is Metamaterial? The prefix meta (a Greek word meaning ‘beyond’) indicates that the characteristics of the material are beyond what we […]

Open RAN has gained prominence in the last few years due to ongoing trends towards openness and disaggregation in the mobile network operator (MNO) space and spurred by recent geopolitical pressures. The below explanation is part of Unlocking Open RAN — An Infrastructure Viewpoint white paper. Evolving RAN Architecture to Open RAN Over the different […]