Thursday, June 24, 2021

Nokia powers AirScale massive MIMO with homegrown ReefShark

Nokia launched new AirScale 5G products covering baseband, remote radio heads, and massive MIMO active antennas with digital beamforming -- powered by the latest generation of its homegrown ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) chipsets.

Nokia's newest ReefShark-powered AirScale massive MIMO antennas support 32TRX and 64TRX, as well as 8T8R remote radio head solutions. The 32TRX, which weighs in at only 17kg, boasts high radio frequency bandwidth (200 MHz occupied bandwidth and 400 MHz instantaneous bandwidth) and  high radio frequency power output. Both the new 32TRX and the new 64TRX massive MIMO antennas support both fragmented spectrum and network sharing cases.

Nokia also introduced its new SoC-based baseband plug-in cards to boost the capacity of the AirScale System Module for up to 90,000 connected users simultaneously and has 84 Gbps throughput. Nokia also says its ReefShark powered plug-in cards will reduce power consumption by up to 75 percent. 

Additional highlights:

  • Nokia Single RAN software now includes 5G , accelerating 5G rollouts with common transport, common operability, common software delivery, and increased hardware sharing. 
  • The combination of Nokia’s Single RAN software and the new baseband plug-in cards offer multi-mode (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) and multi-band and supports the latest fronthaul interfaces (eCPRI) on a single baseband platform, simplifying the network and lowering costs.
  • Nokia’s AirScale baseband architecture keeps the L1 and L2 (Layer 1 and Layer 2) computing separate from L3 (Layer 3) and Transport baseband plug-in units, allowing capacity tp be added when and where it is needed in the network. 
  • Nokia’s ReefShark chipsets now leverage AI/ML for features such as predictive load balancing, anomaly detection, and intelligent traffic steering. 
  • Nokia is carrying out proof of concepts with customers this year in innovative areas such as Massive MIMO beam pattern optimization, energy-saving, advanced traffic steering, advanced packet scheduling, and alarm pattern discovery.

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, said: “Our new generation of ReefShark-powered AirScale radio and baseband products is evidence of the successful transformation of our business and ability to deliver market-leading products to our global customers. Nokia’s new portfolio enables communication service providers to offer both consumer and enterprise customers with cutting-edge 5G experiences with premium speeds, capacity, and connectivity underpinned by seamless, simple, and efficient ‘plug-in’ deployment. Our new AirScale products are O-RAN ready. They consume less energy and highlight our commitment to climate change. We’re excited to see our customers deploying these products and see the transformative impact of 5G technology.”

https://www.nokia.com/airscale/