As AI technology expands across various industries and 6G communication becomes in earnest standardized, this collaboration aims to utilize the two companies’ extensive technical expertise and business knowledge to accelerate AI research in communications.

The partnership will not only improve network quality but also establish a foundation for the market’s transition into the 6G era.

The technology under research and development by both companies is poised to significantly enhance service quality for users and network operational efficiency for service providers.

Currently, communication quality optimization is conducted at the cell site level of mobile communication base stations. Moving forward, the goal is to achieve user-level optimization through the application of AI. For example, users entering areas between cell boundaries or areas with weak signals will be able to stream videos without interruptions and access more stable communication services.

“I believe this technological cooperation between the two companies will speed up AI-powered innovation in the telecom industry, and it will realize the common vision for future communications such as 6G,” said Takaaki Sato, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at NTT DOCOMO.

“The joint research with NTT DOCOMO will play an integral role in developing AI technology for communication systems,” said Paul (Kyungwhoon) Cheun, President, Chief Technology Officer at Samsung Electronics and Head of Samsung Research. “By merging the technical capabilities and expertise of both companies, we will create synergy for next-generation communication technologies.”

Samsung and NTT DOCOMO have a long history of collaboration in mobile communication technology standardization within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).¹ The companies intend to leverage this joint technology research as an opportunity to deepen their cooperation and continue to work together for the advancement of future communication technologies.

¹ 3GPP is dedicated to developing the global unified technical specifications for mobile communications.

Earlier this year, the Samsung Exynos 9 Series (8895) SoC presented its Cat.16 LTE modem with 1.0 gigabit (Gb) downlink speed and the industry’s first 5CA support. By working closely with Anritsu, a telecommunication measuring instrument provider, Samsung’s new Cat.18 6CA-supported LTE modem technology achieves up to 1.2 Gbps downlink speed. The 20-percent improvement in maximum downlink speed can allow mobile device users to download a full-length movie in HD resolution within 10 seconds. Users will also be able to enjoy buffer-less video calls and mobile live-broadcasting.

Carrier aggregation (CA) combines a given number of component carriers with various bandwidths, improving data transfer rates and network performance. By increasing the aggregation capability from the previous model’s five bandwidths to six, the new LTE modem technology will offer faster yet more stable data transfers. Furthermore, the technology supports 4×4 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) and higher-order 256 QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation) scheme to maximize the data transfer rate. By utilizing enhanced Licensed-Assisted Access (eLAA) that can aggregate licensed and unlicensed spectra, the technology also allows telecommunications operators to make fuller use of their equipment.

“With the increase of high-quality online content services, the demand for high-performance LTE modems continue to rise as well,” said Woonhaing Hur, Vice President of System LSI Protocol Development at Samsung Electronics. “The 1.2Gbps maximum downlink speed with 6CA support highlights Samsung’s leading design capabilities and well-positions Samsung for the upcoming 5G era.”

Samsung’s mobile processor adopting the new Cat.18 6CA-supported LTE modem technology is expected to be in mass production by the end of this year.

“The industry is undergoing many dramatic changes, with people requiring new ways of communication yet to be experienced. Samsung is seeking to maximize user happiness by identifying key drivers and implementing the newest solutions,” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “At Samsung, our innovative spirit will extend to the 5G era to enrich people’s lives by making day-to-day tasks easier, simpler and automated.”

5G Solutions

At MWC 2017, Samsung will feature its latest advancements in 5G solutions for both mmWave and below 6GHz spectrums. A live demonstration of mmWave 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will show a maximum data throughput of 4Gbps delivered to the 5G FWA house. 5G FWA will be a game changer in the entire global broadband market and also act as a catalyst for the mobile 5G era.

Samsung also plans on introducing live video analysis involving 5G use cases, which shows huge amounts of video information collected in real-time, and also a latency-free analysis of the videos at the Mobile Edge Cloud. With big data emerging as a global sensation, video analysis can be utilized in areas such as crime prevention, shopping mall logistics management and customer purchase pattern analysis.

Network Virtualization

With virtualization carrying a high significance in the 5G era, effective, agile and prompt network operation became a key topic for operators in introducing new business models and applications. At this year’s MWC, Samsung will demonstrate its virtualized RAN, which will evolve to a Unified RAN, integrating Legacy 4G and 5G together, as well as its automated end-to-end orchestrator.

Through cloud network slicing, the adoption and operation of the latest services and applications will be made even easier through the embedded functions of artificial intelligence (AI), such as big data analytics tools and video IoT platform.

Network Capacity Solutions

Samsung will showcase its professional solutions, designed to enhance the perceived user experience as the mobile data traffic grows exponentially. ‘VoLTE Quality Monitoring & Analysis (VoMA)’ and ‘CognitiV Data Traffic Monitoring & Analysis (DMA)’ have been built to automatically monitor and optimize mobile data service quality for each individual user. By detecting abnormal situations or traffic congestions at a cell unit, each user can enjoy superior service quality. Samsung’s big data analytics enables all these by making the entire process automated.

Samsung will also conduct a live demonstration to show the speed 1Gbps, using LTE-Advance Pro technologies on 3 carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO and 256QAM technologies, as well as 5 carrier aggregation using a smartphone-type device.

In-Building and Campus Solutions

As hyper-immersive multimedia services are an important revenue generator, industry leaders are actively discussing ways to accommodate massive data traffic, such as License Assisted Access (LAA), Shared Spectrum (e.g. CBRS), MulteFire and WiFi AP. At this year’s MWC, Samsung will introduce the full line-up of smallcells and WiFi APs, which adds additional bandwidth to every house and venue regardless of service provider type, ranging from telecom operators, cable service providers and neutral hosts. By connecting to Samsung’s cloud managed services, automatic feature-upgrades and big data analytics-based optimization, as well as vertical application add-ons with Open API are made possible.

Samsung’s booth at MWC is located at the Exhibit Hall 2 Stand 2M10 in Fira Gran Via, and will be open from February 27 to March 2, 2017. To learn more about MWC 2017, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.