From 27 February to 2 March 2023, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and its ecosystem partners are demonstrating their latest advancements and applications of 5G technology under the theme “Intelligent 5G, Beyond Connectivity” at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2023.
These technologies include:
- 5G-IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) enabled by Network Coding
- 5G Millimeter-Wave Integrated Small Cell (ISC)
- 5G-enabled TSN Solution for Industrial Internet
- 5G orchestrator for ASTRI Easy 5G network deployment as Intel Gold-level Network Builders Partners
At the event, ASTRI and its ecosystem partners presented a range of cost-effective and advanced 5G technologies, allowing companies to swiftly enter the market and implement 5G for public, private, or vertical applications using the Easy 5G platform.
The agency’s “5G + Industrial Internet” technology supports smart factory, power grid, mining, and smart transportation use cases, enabling factories to achieve Industry 4.0 transformation by fully connecting to 5G networks. ASTRI is actively collaborating with various local and global partners to commercialize and implement 5G network solutions.
5G-IAB Enabled by Network Coding: ASTRI, along with a technology firm and a start-up, collaborated to present the world’s first 5G IAB network enabled by Network Coding technology. This ground-breaking invention, developed by the technology start-up and implemented using BATched Sparse (BATS) code, significantly enhances the capabilities of densely connected 5G base stations, eliminating the need for fibre cabling while maximising information flow through the network. Together with the technology firm’s base stations, the advanced BATS solution demonstrates the sharing of wireless spectrum for both backhauling and user equipment connectivity, unlocking the potential for rapid cell site deployment and efficient spectrum use.
5G mmWave integrated small cell (ISC): ASTRI partnered with a Hong Kong-based start-up to create a commercial-grade 5G mmWave ISC (Integrated Small Cell) solution. Operating at a carrier frequency of 28GHz, with a 400 MHz system bandwidth and 2 transmit and 2 receive antennas, this solution provides high-speed and low-latency traffic. The 5G mmWave ISC has received certification in operator networks and is highly beneficial in public and private networks, especially when licensed sub-6 spectrum resources are scarce and data traffic can be conveniently offloaded to the mmWave frequency band.
5G-enabled TSN: ASTRI’s 5G TSN supports new industrialisation and digital transformation for Industrial Internet. The TSN-enabled 5G system, perceived as an IEEE-compliant virtual Ethernet TSN bridge, extends TSN capabilities over the wireless domain for time-critical services. ASTRI collaborated with the same tech firm that helped develop the 5G-IAB Enabled by Network Coding and Peng Cheng Laboratory, a national research centre located in Shenzhen China, to develop and showcase the 5G end-to-end TSN-enabled system. ASTRI’s solution delivers a deterministic network for “5G + Industrial Internet”, supporting use cases such as smart factories, power grids, mining, smart transportation, which will enable factories in realizing Industry 4.0 transformation towards fully 5G connected factories.
Easy 5G network deployment – 5G orchestrator: The 5G orchestrator is designed to support both public and private cloud environments and is also available as microsites on the Intel Smart Edge Portal. As an Intel Gold-level Network Builders Partner, ASTRI will collaborate with Intel to promote virtualized 5G technologies, enabling companies to quickly enter the market and deploy 5G for public, private, or vertical market applications using 5G orchestration. The 5G User Plane Function (UPF) offers exceptional data processing performance (over 1.3Tbps throughput when collaborating with Intel) while supporting 5G-LAN, precise time synchronisation (with Intel I225/I226 series), and ultra-low jitter with high availability.
