Qualcomm has introduced a 5G spectrum sharing prototype system and trial platform, which allows service providers to operate 5G technologies in licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum.
Industry standards body 3GPP is expected to complete the standardisation of 5G technology, referred to as 5G new radio (NR), around 2020. The industry is working to ensure the technology can make the simplest use of the scattered spectrum available to it.
Qualcomm said its new prototype, based on the its sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G NR end-to-end prototypes, will show how 5G spectrum sharing is viable for delivering fibre-like experiences and new types of deployments.
It will include the support for Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) technology, wideband waveforms with low latency, and enhancements in the radio and network protocols, on top of which new spectrum sharing technologies are being designed and evaluated.
It will be ready for technology development in 2017, with field trials thereafter, it said.
Matt Grob, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Qualcomm Technologies, said: “5G NR spectrum sharing innovations enable new spectrum sharing paradigms. This technology will benefit operators with licensed spectrum but also opens the doors to those without licensed spectrum – such as cable operators, enterprise or IoT verticals – to take advantage of the 5G NR family of technologies.”
The company said 5G spectrum sharing will expand and enhance the spectrum sharing technologies introduced in LTE, specifically License Assisted Access (LAA) to aggregate across spectrum types, LTE Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA) to aggregate across technologies, CBRS/License Shared Access (LSA) to share spectrum with incumbents and other deployments, and MulteFire to operate stand-alone deployments in unlicensed spectrum.