A new 5G research partnership involving China Mobile Research Institute and Nutaq Innovation will start work on testing and fine-tuning massive MIMO (Multiple In, Multiple Out) antenna applications.
The 5G Development Center opened at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan will start out testing hybrid beam-forming algorithms and Nutaq’s Titan MIMO, a 5G testbed that can support up to 1000 transceivers.
The goal of the Center’s work is to move toward the 800 Gbps speeds and 1000x capacity promises of 5G networks.
“5G is not a straightforward evolution from 4G and requires a complete rethink of current practices,” said Professor Corbett Rowell, China Mobile’s research director in Beijing who’ll be heading the new center.
5G has yet to be defined and commercial deployments of the network technology likely won’t begin until at least 2020.
But companies are acknowledging the moniker in their new research and solutions. Ericsson and T-Mobile recently announced plans to use unlicensed spectrum in harmony with licensed airwaves for boosted LTE performance, calling the move a step toward 5G.
