NI, Radisys, and CommScope have collaborated to demonstrate a 28 GHz 5G New Radio (NR) network at the Brooklyn 5G Summit 2019. This public demonstration showed a 28 GHz base station or gNodeB built from a CommScope remote radio unit (RRU) running software developed by Radisys that communicates with a NI Test UE.
The commercial rollout of sub-6 GHz 5G networks has begun, and mmWave technology continues to be developed even as this rollout is underway. Research and development teams around the globe have been tackling the challenges that mm-Wave presents and early versions of 28 GHz equipment are emerging. An important step in delivering this technology to market is helping to ensure that network equipment (gNodeB) and user equipment (UE) work together properly (commonly referred to as InterOperability Device Testing, IoDT) and that the technology can be used in a variety of scenarios from inside a lab to outdoor field trials.
This demo showcased a 3GPP Release 15 non-standalone mmWave network created using equipment from multiple vendors. The above-6 GHz NI Test UE runs a physical layer designed by NI on NI's mmWave Transceiver System and a mmWave software defined radio (SDR) with an upper layer stack provided by Radisys. The 5G NR Software Suite by Radisys enables the NI Test UE in mmWave frequency spectrum for non-standalone and standalone modes of operation. The gNodeB is built with a physical layer running on an Intel FlexRAN, an upper layer protocol stack provided by Radisys and a remote radio unit (RRU), or antenna, from CommScope. A commercial LTE small cell is used as the LTE anchor. Combined, this system can make a live 5G NR mmWave call between the NI Test UE and the commercial 5G base station, made up of a CommScope RRU, Intel FlexRAN, and Radisys protocol stack.
Click here to learn more about 5G NR Non-Standalone Test User Equipment from NI.
