Optus trials Ericsson’s 5G-A interference sensing to up throughout

In a joint statement, the partners claim the trial is a world first achievement, having piloted the vendor’s interference sensing technology in the telco’s live network.

Ericsson adds the technology is a new commercial-grade software feature within their Massive MIMO 5G Advanced portfolio and uses the vendor’s “unique” algorithm to dynamically sense and reduce inter cell interference. The 22% average increase was observed across both multiple users and cells in an Optus commercial network deployment.

The pair says through beamforming technology the signal energy is maximised for users on a given cell while also addressing inter cell interference issues, this means it can ensure interference is avoided with nearby cells. Further, this helps improve overall network capacity, especially as 5G networks densify.

“We are excited at Optus to be involved in another world-first demonstration using Ericsson’s cutting-edge technology to improve our network performance and customer experience” said Kent Wu, Optus Vice President Access Network Strategy.

“This technology will deliver a better data experience for customers, with faster data throughput. It will also allow for the implementation of new and improved use cases for video streaming, enterprise and consumer mobile cloud gaming services, stadium 5G service applications and AR/VR.”

The technology can be applied to existing massive MIMO hardware through a software upgrade alone. While this trial saw an average of 22% throughput improvement, interference sensing can help gain up to 40% capacity gains in a network.

“The successful pilot deployment of Ericsson’s Interference Sensing marks another milestone for the telecoms sector as we push onwards with innovations that will truly unlock the full potential of 5G” said Sibel Tombaz, Head of Product Line Cloud & Purpose-built 5G RAN at Ericsson.

“Interference Sensing provides up to 40 percent capacity gain on existing Massive MIMO hardware with only a software upgrade – an achievement that has earned industry recognition. It has been an immense opportunity to collaborate with Optus for this first demonstration of our technology on their network.”