Agilent Technologies Inc. announced it will participate in a joint demonstration of the next-generation radio access network as part of the C-RAN collaboration project with China Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. Research Institute (CMRI) at the 2014 Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain.
China Mobile is the world’s largest mobile network operator and a market leader in 3G/LTE and next-generation wireless network development.
Agilent and CMRI signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing in August 2012 to initiate a collaboration to focus on developing technology and test methods for a next-generation, cloud-based radio access network, or C-RAN. Since then, teams from both companies have been working closely on several technical areas, such as TD-LTE/TD-LTE-Advanced Radio Frequency testing, new test requirements for C-RAN architecture, and parallel computing and software-defined radios. They have made very good progress in each area.
C-RAN is a new approach to network design, using a centralized, collaborative, cloud-based radio access network to build an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, intelligent network. Agilent and CMRI believe the areas they have been working on could lead to a new network design standard for China and for the global wireless network industry.
At the event, Agilent will participate in the joint demonstration of the next-generation radio access networking with IBM and China Mobile, focusing on the software defined radio (SDR) and network function virtualization (NFV). It will demonstrate a pure, software-based LTE base station using the IBM server and cloud platform to set up a live connection to a commercial LTE mobile phone, and then make the baseband IQ signal measurements using the Agilent 89600 VSA software as an application in the baseband pool of the new radio access network. This demonstration will show how the test and measurement capabilities can be used in the next-generation radio access network.
Agilent’s collaborative work with CMRI on C-RAN reflects the strong commitment by Agilent in China to support industry leaders in the development of next-generation wireless technologies. Agilent plans to continue support the C-RAN collaboration at its R&D center in Beijing, working with CMRI and other C-RAN program participants.
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