Ericsson, SK Telecom and BMW have successfully conducted the most advanced 5G outdoor mobility trial, which includes the first multi-vehicular 5G trial. They conducted these trials successfully on a 5G test network installed at the advanced BMW car test track in Yeongjong-do, South Korea and demonstrated the world’s first 5G-based connected car, named ‘T5’. SK Telecom, together with Ericsson, deployed network slicing and 5G radio network infrastructure to cover a complete track in the BMW driving center. The 5G trial network covers all driving tracks inside the driving center which spans across an area of 240,000 square meters and supports more than 20Gbps peak data rates with sub-millisecond latency. The trial with the connected test cars showed that 5G performance will support V2X (Vehicular Connectivity) services that require low latency and consistent high bi-directional throughput. For the demonstration, SK Telecom worked with BMW Group Korea to install 5G terminals within two BMW vehicles.
SK Telecom has demonstrated T5’s capability to observe road conditions enabled by a state-of-the-art video recognition camera installed within the vehicle so as to provide notifications and assisted-driving to drivers. In addition, the company has transmitted, in real time over the 5G network from the device to the network (i.e., uplink), ultra-high-definition (UHD) video taken by 4K cameras and a 360-degree camera installed both inside and outside of the vehicle to the control center set up for the audience to enjoy the demonstration through large screen displays.
According to SK Telecom - 5G will offer much more than just faster data speeds. It will serve as a true enabler for a whole new variety of powerful services that deliver unprecedented value to customers. This demonstration of 5G-based connected car technologies marks the very first step towards achieving fully autonomous driving in the upcoming era of 5G.
The test environment was realized by using an Ericsson 5G field trial network. It consists of multiple radio transmission points on 28 GHz frequency band to cover the entire track and user equipment installed in every car. The trials showed consistent Gbps-level throughput with a few milliseconds of latency. Uninterrupted connectivity, using beam tracking and beam transfer across the different transmission points at speeds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour is also achieved. The performance shown enables multiple connected car use cases such as augmented and virtual reality, obstacle control and vehicle to vehicle communication, based on a system solution including radio and core network infrastructure from Ericsson.
The trial simultaneously implements new key 5G capabilities with multi-site, multi-transmission point, MU-MIMO, and with multiple devices operating in the millimeter wave frequency band. It demonstrates beam tracking and beam mobility between different 5G access points, at high mobility.
Ericsson is using its leading 5G trial system to support multiple trial engagements with different operators around the world, enabling our operator partners to test various applications with different trial set-up to explore new business opportunities.
