Nokia has introduced a new family of chipsets for its 5G network solutions called ReefShark. ReefShark is based on 3GPP 5G New Radio specifications, which help offset deployment costs and TCO, while fulfilling architecture-driven network requirements. This new family of chipsets leverages Nokia's in-house silicon expertise to dramatically reduce the size, cost and energy consumption at each cell site, while simultaneously boosting the intelligence and performance of massive MIMO antennas.
ReefShark boosts baseband compute capacity through plug-in units fitted into the commercially available Nokia AirScale baseband module. AirScale is software upgradeable to full 5G functionality, and these plug-in units triple throughput from Nokia's already market-leading 28 Gbps today, to up to 85 Gbps per module. Additionally, AirScale baseband module chaining supports base station throughputs of up to 6 terabits per second, which will allow operators to meet the huge growing densification demands and support the massive enhanced mobile broadband needs of people and devices in megacities.
ReefShark chipsets can half the size of massive MIMO antennas required for 5G applications. In addition to size they can also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to such similar in use today.
AI in 5G networks enables real-time radio monitoring and optimization and the ability to apply techniques such as network slicing to meet the service level demands of new business cases. Nokia is developing technology with common interfaces and toolkits allowing service providers to implement machine learning applications in their networks.
The ReefShark Chipsets Consist of the Following:
- ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
- ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
- ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.
Nokia is working with 30 operators using ReefShark and will ramp up field deployments during the third quarter of 2018. Nokia will continue to communicate its Future X architecture for 5G in future announcements and at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. For more information, click here.
