Nokia and China Mobile Research Institute launched the industry’s first hybrid indoor radio solution with location services to meet 5G connectivity demands inside busy large buildings such as business campuses and shopping malls.
Nokia and China Mobile collectively developed the industry-first 5G cheap hybrid distributed indoor system to satisfy these challenges. This active smart indoor coverage system leverages the Nokia 5G Pico RRH system along with passive DAS antennas and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. With fewer active elements to deploy compared to Pico systems, the solution reduces deployment prices to the levels associated with traditional passive-only DAS systems, while delivering greater capacity than DAS.
Indoor distribution technologies
The ability to leverage both active and passive indoor distribution technologies allows the delivery of intelligent operations and maintenance services, creating it easier to observe, find and correct any disconnected elements. The new services enabled include weak coverage analysis, indoor positioning, traffic flow analysis, easy growth and elastic scalability. In a shopping mall, the placement services can enable functions like remote security monitoring and the ability to send shoppers information regarding busy locations to avoid congestion. In addition, the combination of third-party services like geofencing and hot spot identification will enable retailers to send coupons and store information to customers in a mall who have opted in to the service.
Zhang Xinwang, Senior Researcher at China Mobile Research Institute, said: “China Mobile is committed to delivering the best user experience for mobile applications empowered by innovative technologies. Our collaborations with Nokia Shanghai Bell, along with the innovations jointly achieved, will help us maintain the leading position in 5G coverage and capacity while effectively lowering implementation costs.”
Chang Jiang, Chief Technology Officer of Customer Operations at Nokia Shanghai Bell, said: “Nokia is committed to working closely with China Mobile as a long-term technology partner, and the launch of the innovative hybrid system is a strong testament to our work. As a leader in 5G, Nokia will continue to build on its technology momentum to help China Mobile evolve its network to meet its business and consumer customers’ increasing demands in the 5G world.”
