An Ignoble Experiment

2. T-Mobile's 4x2 MIMO upgrade proves its worth in recent tests

The FCC has a lot of work ahead if it hopes to create consensus around its plans for a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) at 3.5 GHz, as specific parts of its proposed rulemaking have come under attack from multiple corners.

Wireless industry players that sent in comments by the July 14 filing deadline were largely supportive of efforts to engage spectrum-sharing techniques to open the band for use by both government and commercial users. The spectrum-sharing concept provided a rare point of general agreement, however, with many details of the FCC's proposal drawing considerable debate.

The commission intends to apply spectrum sharing to 3550-3650 MHz spectrum and is also pondering extending the service to 3700 MHz, providing a total of 150 MHz of spectrum for the CBRS. The FCC's three-tiered access and sharing model would be comprised of federal and non-federal incumbents, priority access licensees (PALs) and general authorized access (GAA) users, which would basically be an unlicensed tier.

It is envisioned that opening up the band in this manner would encourage its use for wireless broadband, small cell deployments and other applications.

Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) comments on the FCC proposal echoed numerous others in saying the commission should revise its "improperly conceived" exclusion zones protecting incumbent government users, which would deny access to more than half of the U.S. population.

In addition, the Internet giant added that basing priority licenses on census tracts "will waste spectrum resources." Google noted that carriers "often will be unable to deploy a small cell network within a single census tract."

Yet while Google supports the commission's plan to have a centralized spectrum manager, or Spectrum Access System (SAS), assign channels dynamically, others see lots problems with the SAS.

AT&T (NYSE: T), for example, said the "novel" SAS may prove a good approach for managing the 3.5 GHz band, but said it strongly opposes the FCC's proposal to have the SAS make dynamic--as opposed to static--spectrum assignments for PALs. "In the case of PALs, real-time or near real-time interference management is not practical between PAL users due to stringent interference reporting requirements that will be difficult to be met by the proposed SAS architecture and also due to the disparity of technologies that can be used by PAL users," AT&T said.

The operator recommended the commission consider a transitional approach to licensing during SAS development, during which spectrum use would be bifurcated between PAL and GAA users.

T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) said the SAS should have significant authority over spectrum management but only in the GAA segment of the band.

The operator also called on the FCC to reevaluate its allocation of spectrum between PALs and GAA users and set a floor of 40 MHz of spectrum for priority-access use; reconsider the protection zones; issue licenses to PALs using more traditional licensing mechanisms, such as using areas larger than census tracts, at fixed frequencies, and for terms greater than one year; set flexible technical rules, allowing higher power levels for licensed services; and limit the role of the SAS, particularly as it relates to licensed spectrum.

The controversial three-tier licensing framework for the CBRS has numerous supporters, including Google. However, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) continues to take issue with the approach, which, it said, "has not been implemented anywhere in the world."

The chipmaker noted multiple vendors, European operators and some regulators outside of the United States have been working to standardize within ETSI a two-tier spectrum-sharing framework commonly referred to as authorized shared access (ASA) or licensed shared access (LSA). That approach has been selected for deployment in the European Union's 2.3 GHz band.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) said the FCC's three-tier plan, with its "ultra-small geographic areas with ultra-short licenses" will delay small cell deployment in the 3.5 GHz band.

Sprint (NYSE: S), meanwhile, sided with entities such as the WiMAX Forum in opposing the FCC's proposal to include the 3650-3700 MHz band in the CBRS at this time.

"Sprint currently holds a license in the 3650-3700 MHz band, and has worked with several vendors to test and develop equipment that would operate under the existing Part 90 Subpart Z rules, including small cells and non-line-of-sight backhaul," the operator said. It added that the FCC's proposal to include the 3650-3700 MHz band under the new Part 96 rules "has brought uncertainty to that work."

For more:
- see this Google filing
- see this AT&T filing
- see this T-Mobile filing
- see this Verizon filing
- see this Sprint filing

Read more about: 3.5 GHz, AT&T
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By Tammy Parker

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3. Nitero's WiGig, 802.11ad chip family specifically designed for mobile use

T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) has been leading the way in the United States to 4x2 MIMO cell site configurations, and a recent Signals Research Group study of the operator's upgraded infrastructure shows impressive gains from the approach.

T-Mobile confirmed in April that it was deploying the new antenna technology into its LTE network in certain markets. As described by Signals, headed by analyst Michael Thelander, 4x2 MIMO entails four transmit antennas at the cell site along with two receive antennas in the mobile devices. There are also four receive antennas at the cell site which can create a diversity gain and lead to higher uplink performance.

Signals, with the assistance of T-Mobile, tested some of the operator's sites in February around Dallas, including those with the standard 2x2 MIMO cell site configuration that most LTE providers started out deploying and others that T-Mobile has upgraded to 4x2 configurations with closed-loop MIMO, rather than the more common open-loop MIMO. The cluster of sites configured with 4x2 MIMO also leveraged 20+20 MHz radio channels.

The 4x2 MIMO antenna technology delivered headline peak data rate of 143.8 Mbps in the downlink (per TTI) and 46.93 Mbps in the uplink, Signals said.

"We found that a 4x2 cell site configuration delivered substantially higher performance in the uplink, including much higher user data rates, far more efficient scheduling of network resources and clear indications that the battery life of the mobile device was greatly enhanced. Generally, the benefits increased the further the mobile device was from the center of the cell, but the improvements in battery life were observed throughout a large portion of the cell," Signals said.

The firm noted it observed meaningful benefits in the downlink performance, again primarily closer to the edge of the cell. Test results also showed that closed-loop MIMO appeared to deliver substantially higher throughput than transmit diversity (TM2).

Signals noted that since all LTE mobile devices inherently support the 4x2 cell site configuration, the benefits of implementing that configuration are immediate and applicable to the entire installed base of mobile devices.

T-Mobile's Dallas market uses infrastructure provided by Nokia (NYSE:NOK), whose Flexi multi-radio base station and remote radio unit (RRU) gear enable a relatively easy upgrade to the 4x2 configuration, Signals said. "Since we did the testing back in February we know that T-Mobile has greatly increased the footprint of the 4x2 cell site configuration and we assume that eventually all of its RAN vendors will deploy the feature in its network," the research firm added.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is T-Mobile's other primary LTE network vendor.

Signals has not quantified the economic benefits associated with the 4x2 cell site configuration and acknowledged there are challenges involved in creating that layout, including those involved in upgrading legacy hardware, making cell site changes and resulting impacts on lease agreements. "Nonetheless, the triple whammy of higher user data rates, increased network efficiency, and a longer battery life shouldn't be dismissed," Signals said.

For the testing, Signals collaborated with Accuver, which supplied its XCAL drive test solution and its XCAP post-processing software. T-Mobile provided Signals with a Datum license and access to a Datum server so the firm could terminate/originate UDP downlink/uplink data sessions on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that it bought in a T-Mobile store.

In addition to buying the device, equipped with a Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) LTE Cat 4 chipset, Signals said it also purchased an unlimited data plan, "which was critical since we burned through 270 GB of data over a period of two days." The data usage cost Signals $0.12 per gigabyte, for a total of $32.75.

For more:
- see this release

Read more about: 2x2 MIMO
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By Tammy Parker

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4. xG peddling its xMax cognitive-radio system for public-safety use

Competition in the WiGig market is heating up rapidly, with Tier 1 smartphone companies asking for 11ad for late-2015 models. The latest WiGig offering is from fabless semiconductor company Nitero, which is applying its 60 GHz CMOS expertise to 60G, its new family of 802.11ad solutions designed for mobile devices plus displays and peripherals.

Kelly

The first product in the family is the NT4600, which specifically targets mobile device power, performance and form-factor requisites. Austin, Texas-based Nitero is demonstrating the NT4600 to partners and customers and expects to begin production shipments in 2015.

Pat Kelly, Nitero CEO, cited the "huge momentum now with .11ad," given Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) acquisition of Wilocity, which he said "by all accounts is to really go after the Samsung sockets that Broadcom has" in certain high-end Samsung products.

He also cited Intel's recent announcement of its Skylake platform, which will ditch cables thanks to the use of WiGig and Rezence technologies. "It's great to see Qualcomm and Intel on the same side. That's giving a lot of people confidence that .11ad is really going to happen," Kelly told FierceWirelessTech.

Use cases for WiGig, also called 60 GHz Wi-Fi, typically include residential 4K multimedia streaming, in-office wireless docking as well as ultra-fast media offloading and downloading. Kelly touted Nitero's 60G family for mobile products, which he said specifically addresses use cases involving smartphones, phablets and tablets. Nitero's platform, unlike Wilocity's, is built from the ground up to meet mobile device requirements, rather than being "an 802.11ad solution built for the PC and slimmed down for mobile," Kelly said.

The NT4600 takes advantage of Samsung's 28-nanometer RF process. Compared against 60 GHz solutions designed for the PC, Nitero's NT4600 promises 10 times lower power consumption and a 10 times reduction in form factor. It also offers 10 times lower joules-per-bit and five times higher data rate when compared to 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO solutions in a full room at 4.6 Gbps.

Kelly observed that while single-antenna 802.11ad solutions offer low power, they sacrifice in-room performance. However, Nitero's NT4600 supports transmit and receive beamforming to support non-line-of-sight conditions and provide coverage throughout the office, living room or conference room. "We feel that we've hit the optimized point here of very low power but still fully supporting the in-room experience," Kelly said.

The device also provides peer-to-peer wireless connectivity using 16-QAM modulation at up to 4.6 Gbps and includes a PCI Express host interface to support the latest mobile applications processors while minimizing software overhead. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android driver support is also included.

"The market for 60 GHz Wi-Fi is set to pick up in a big way in 2015 due to its adoption into increasingly powerful 4K-capable smartphones," said Philip Solis, research director at ABI Research. "Nitero is one of the few companies that will have 60 GHz Wi-Fi modules ready for mobile products next year."

Nitero got its start via CMOS millimeter-wave research conducted by NICTA--which is Australia's largest organization dedicated to information communications technology (ICT) research--and the University of Melbourne from 2004 until Nitero's spinout from NICTA in 2011. The company still maintains a design center in Melbourne, Australia. Venture capital funding has been provided by Austin Ventures, Southern Cross Venture Partners and Trailblazer Capital.

For more:
- see this Nitero release

Read more about: 802.11ad, Nitero
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By Tammy Parker

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5. TD-LTE rollouts, connections starting to snowball, say analysts

Making a push to extend its all-IP cognitive radio network technology into the public-safety space, xG Technology said it will showcase its xMax private broadband wireless network solution during next month's APCO International Conference and Expo in New Orleans. The event should attract some 5,000 attendees and exhibitors and is the largest industry gathering of public-safety communications professionals.

The xMax is currently designed for the 902-928 MHz band.

The xMax system leverages software-defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio access network technology to enable sharing of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The system's over-the-air waveform is designed for use in a fixed, low-latency cognitive radio network. The vendor contends its proprietary protocol "outperforms Wi-Fi, WiMAX and traditional cellular technologies like LTE in shared and interference prone radio bands."

Though xMax is technically frequency agnostic, it is currently designed to operate within the 902-928 MHz license-free band.

The xMax system includes access points, fixed and mobile personal Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile switching centers (MSCs) as well as network management and deployment tools. Once deployed, commercial devices with Wi-Fi connectivity, including smartphones, tablets and laptops, can be connected to an xMax System to enable voice, video, and data communications.

XG has been marketing xMax for use in numerous market segments, including incumbent wireless networks, rural telcos and wireless Internet service providers, defense, utilities and smart grid, mobile content providers and public safety. In public safety, the vendor is touting xMax as an answer to rapid-response emergency communications situations.

"Superstorm Sandy in 2012 knocked out 25 percent of the cellular towers in ten states, flooded dozens of communications centers, and wiped out power for weeks in some parts of the Northeast," noted Tim Moynihan, xG's vice president of sales. He said the xMax system is well suited to such situations because it is mobile and portable, self-contained and can be used to establish a private wireless network in about two hours.

Sarasota, Fla.-based xG claims 60 U.S. and more than 140 international patents and pending patent applications. The company has been pushing its technology since 2005 and completed an initial public offering of stock one year ago. For 2014's first quarter, xG's revenues were $250,000 compared to $0 revenue in the first quarter of 2013. Its quarterly net loss was $5.2 million, compared with a loss of $4.2 million during the first quarter of 2013.

For more:
- see this xG release

Read more about: APCO, software-defined radio
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By Tammy Parker

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SPOTLIGHT ON... Ericsson: 5G will require lots of new spectrum above 10 GHz

Recent reports from Dell'Oro Group and Juniper Research highlight the rampant rollouts of LTE networks worldwide and ongoing uptakes of LTE service by end users. Further, both firms are bullish regarding the growing importance of the TDD variant of LTE, particularly in emerging markets.

Click here to view a larger version of this image.

The market for LTE-based mobile radio access network (RAN) equipment, including macro cell and small cell radios, will close in on $22 billion by 2018, according to Dell'Oro Group. The research firm added that LTE RAN revenue levels over the next five years should outpace the RAN revenue peaks of GSM in 2007 and WCDMA in 2011.

"The momentum around LTE coverage build-outs and subscriber adoption is stronger than anything we have experienced with previous mobile technologies," said Stefan Pongratz, Dell'Oro analyst.

"The pace of the LTE radio deployments during the coverage phase and the variety of band combinations available for LTE is enabling service providers to deploy radios in multiple bands optimized for coverage and capacity. This is driving investments to remain high even after the initial LTE coverage phase," he added.

During the first quarter of 2014, the top LTE RAN vendors as measured by revenue were Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK), according to Dell'Oro.

The research firm predicts that total RAN market, including macro cells and small cells, will grow for a second consecutive year during 2014. However, it will then decline at a low single-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2014 and 2018.

Dell'Oro expects more than 1 million macro radios, including those for remote radio heads, antenna integrated radio and active antenna systems, will ship in 2018 and will be configured using both distributed and centralized baseband architectures.

In addition, the TDD flavor of LTE is expected to account for some 40 percent of LTE radio-frequency (RF) carrier shipments during the 2014-2018 forecast period.

Earlier this year, Dell'Oro reported that the TD-LTE RAN market grew rapidly during the fourth quarter of 2013, thanks mainly to large-scale rollouts in China. TD-LTE RAN revenues exceeded $1 billion, accounting for more than one third of total FDD/TDD LTE revenues during 2013's final three months, the firm said.

Similarly, Juniper Research has forecast that deployments of TD-LTE in China, Japan and India will prompt increased network rollouts in other parts of the world.

"TD-LTE will play a significant role, especially in the emerging markets, pushed by China Mobile's need to support TD-LTE and accelerate its commercial deployment in China. There are 36 commercial TD-LTE networks and we expect active TD-LTE connections to demonstrate a higher annual growth rate when compared to FD-LTE," analyst Nitin Bhas.

In addition, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) said this month that 168 manufacturers have so far announced 1,889 LTE-enabled user devices. It noted that support for TD-LTE has significantly strengthened over the past year, and now 530 devices can operate in the TD-LTE mode.

Juniper expects the Far East and China will account for most LTE service revenues by 2019. The firm noted that one in three smartphones shipped this year will be LTE-enabled, with manufacturers expected to ship more LTE-enabled devices relative to 2G/3G devices.

Juniper said active LTE connections will exceed the 1 billion mark in 2017 and reach 1.8 billion by 2019, representing 22 percent of global active mobile SIM connections by that time.

For more:
- see this GSA release
- see this Dell'Oro release
- see this Juniper release

Read more about: small cell, Nitin Bhas, ran
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The most critical aspect that will influence how 5G networks manage envisioned traffic increases is the availability of additional spectrum, according to Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC). In a new white paper on 5G, the vendor said radio spectrum from 10 GHz up to 100 GHz is being considered for use by 5G mobile communication systems.

Ericsson noted that the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) will focus on the allocation of additional spectrum below 6.5 GHz for use by mobile communication. "However, to fulfill long-term traffic demands, and perhaps even more important, to enable the very wide transmission bandwidths needed to provide multi-Gbps data rates efficiently, the range of operation for next-generation wireless access needs to be extended into higher frequencies above 10 GHz--an agenda item for WRC-19," Ericsson said.

The company noted that it probably does not make a lot of sense to try using a single radio-interface structure, such as OFDM-based transmission technology, to address such a wide swath of frequencies, though it will likely provide a good baseline. Therefore, Ericsson said, "the overall 5G wireless-access solution will most likely consist of multiple well-integrated radio-interface solutions." For more, see this Ericsson 5G white paper. (PDF)

Wireless tech news from around the Web.

> Ericsson CTO Ulf Ewaldsson brushed aside the idea of using balloons and drones to extend Internet connectivity within emerging markets. Article

> Expanding network capacity will push mobile packet core spending over $18 billion through 2019, ABI said. Release

> Mountain View, Calif., is using Ruckus Wireless' Smart Wi-Fi products for its free public Wi-Fi service. Release

> Celeno debuted a Wi-Fi Experience Manager, which provides control over home wireless networks. Release

> The second Small Cell Forum LTE Plugfest addressed multi-vendor SON. Release

And finally… A TSA officer at a Florida airport who refused to accept a D.C. driver's license didn't know the nation's capital is part of the United States. Article

SK Telecom planning 'hyper-connected infrastructure' for 5G

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