In order to make it simpler for smaller and more recent players to utilise the high-performance silicon required to enable 5G base stations, Vodafone and Qualcomm recently announced plans to establish open RAN reference designs. The designs will be built on Qualcomm's 5G RAN platforms, which include Distributed Unit (DU) and Radio Unit (RU) with huge MIMO capabilities.
Massive MIMO With 64T64R and 32T32R Capabilities is Supported by the 5G Equipment
The two firms agreed in April 2021 to work together to create technical specifications that will aid equipment manufacturers in constructing future 5G networks utilising Open RAN technology. This joint announcement expands on that agreement. The Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform and Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card are the foundation of the 5G Open RAN Infrastructure solutions that Qualcomm Technologies and Vodafone are developing. The huge MIMO 64T64R and 32T32R capabilities supported by the 5G equipment are necessary for high-capacity dense urban settings.
Qualcomm stated that one of the most challenging performance hurdles emerges where two supplier technologies meet as operators try to mix and match hardware and software from several manufacturers using O-RAN. Qualcomm's experience with high-performance and low-power Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology and Vodafone's skill with large-scale network engineering are both key components of the alliance.
As per Dino Flore, vice president of technology at Qualcomm Europe, Inc., they look forward to expanding their partnership with Vodafone to deliver the next wave of digital transformation and accelerate Open RAN deployments throughout the globe.
The company congratulate Qualcomm Technologies for recently sampling the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform, and they anticipate cooperating with Qualcomm Technologies to test and deliver these platforms, claimed Santiago Tenorio, director of Vodafone's network architecture.
Upon completion of validation tests at the telco's lab, Gerardo Giaretta, senior director, product management at Qualcomm Technologies, predicts that field trials will start in the middle of 2023 and commercialization would follow in the latter half of 2023 or in the early months of 2024.
