In many networks, the RAN represents the last stronghold of proprietary hardware and software. While the mobile core is progressing to a virtualized, cloud-based architecture, the RAN remains rooted in vendor-based appliances such as the radio unit (RU) and baseband unit (BBU). In between these appliances, communications take place over proprietary protocols and interfaces based […]

LTE power control is applied to uplink transmission only. There is no downlink power control. The objective of power control in LTE is to reduce terminal power consumption and minimize the power dynamic range in the eNodeB receiver. The LTE uplink power control aims to keep the Power Spectral Density (PSD) (watt/Hertz) constant for a […]

5G-NR transmissions are more flexible than their predecessor technologies. 5G-NR signals can be transmitted using different numerology, which is summarized below in Table. The numerology is parameterized using an index parameter µ. ∆f stands for sub-carrier spacing. TS for symbol duration. TCP for the Cyclic Prefix(CP) duration. NFrame Slot for the number of slots per […]

Hardware accelerator cards accelerate data processing and relieve some of the burdens from the CPUs, to enable operators and infrastructure vendors the ability to maximize the benefits of high performance, low latency, and power efficient 5G, while accelerating the cellular ecosystem’s transition towards virtualized radio access networks. Benefits of Accelerator Card The PCIe card is […]

The Service Communication Proxy (SCP) is a new HTTP/2-based network function enabling dynamic scaling and management of communication and services in the 5G network. The SCP has a role that in some ways can be compared with its predecessors, such as the Signaling Transfer Point (STP), the central signaling router used in 2G and 3G […]

In 5G NR Release 15, Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) were the foundational goals. At the 3GPP TSG#96 meeting, 3GPP announced 5G Release 17 finalized, which includes the 5G reduced capability (RedCap) specification for medium- and high-speed connections. What is RedCap? 3GPP introduced, in Release 17,  […]

5G standards define the use of wide radio channels. Whereas 4G LTE is limited to a maximum radio channel size of 20 MHz, 5G standards specify the use of radio channels up to 100 MHz in frequency bands below 7 GHz and up to 400 MHz in mmWave radio channels at 24 GHz and higher. […]

Here is the comparison between 5G and 4G Physical Channels/Signals 5G Vs. 4G Downlink (DL) Channels/Signals 5G Vs. 4G Uplink (UL) Channels/Signals

Open RAN: Industry Term for Open Radio Access Network Architecture with open interoperable interfaces, Virtualization, and AI/ML-enabled RAN. OpenRAN: Initiatives are driven by TIP’s OpenRAN Project group. O-RAN: It refers to O-RAN Alliance Community. vRAN: Virtualized radio access networks (vRANs) are a way for operators to run their baseband functions as Software. Cloud RAN: It […]

Both Open RAN and vRAN offer a significant benefit by separating RAN hardware from software. Consequently, software for the virtualized Centralized Units and Distributed Units (vCU/DUs) can run on any Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware. This support for commodity hardware enables operators to reduce capital costs by taking advantage of the economies of scale afforded by COTS […]

vRAN transforms the RAN from hardware-specific to software-based run on general-purpose servers. It is the evolution from vendor-specific, purpose-built baseband technologies to general-purpose platforms run by software. In legacy RAN systems, each cell site had a Baseband Unit (BBU), which sent data to and from the site’s Radio Units (RUs) and the core network. The […]