Every year Zinnov Awards celebrates the titans in technology and felicitate outstanding individuals and organizations and this is the fifth consecutive year the SRI-B has won the award. SRI-B is Samsung’s largest R&D center outside South Korea and has been recognized for its incredible strategic engagement with broader ecosystem from start-ups and developer community to academia and research fraternity.

“Samsung has taken up multiple initiatives towards building the local eco-system in last few years. Our thrust on 5G, IOT, AI, Multimedia and Services has been fueled with the aim of creating consumer centric innovations.  These efforts have helped us combine our technological prowess with the expertise of local start-ups- and-developer community to create enhanced products and services. The recognition by Zinnov further encourages our mission,” said Dr Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, SRI-B.

Over the last few years, SRI-B has introduced several products and services for Indian customers. For instance, Bixby Voice optimization to understand English in Indian accents was developed by SRI-B. The R&D center also recently developed Social Camera mode in smartphones. The first commercial iris recognition table, approved by UIDAI for Aadhaar and KYC verification was also developed here.

Korean operators have been transmitting 5G signals in Seoul and metropolitan areas since December 1, 2018 using 5G base station radios and 5G core solutions from Samsung’s Networks Business unit. To further expand the 5G network, Samsung has supplied 5G core solutions and more than 53,000 5G radio base stations to Korea’s three operators.

“Korea is one of the first markets in the world in which the 5G experience is opening up for consumers, and we’re thrilled to play a key role in the nationwide rollout of 5G with our unparalleled 5G network solutions,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “As a longstanding innovator in the 5G space and one of the few vendors offering a full end-to-end 5G solution, Samsung is at the forefront of pushing the limits of 5G and beyond.”

Korean operators rolled out their commercial 5G networks using Samsung’s 5G Massive-MIMO Unit (MMU) radio base station in the 3.5GHz spectrum. A key characteristic of Samsung MMUs deployed in Korea is that they are among the smallest and lightest in the industry, ensuring they can be easily installed in existing operators’ cellular sites requiring minimal changes. This ability to re-use existing site has been key to enabling the Korean operators to deploy 5G network consisting of tens of thousands of radios within just few months since the Dec 1^st launch.

The virtualized 5G core solutions, provided to all three Korean operators for their 5G commercial launch, support both legacy 4G networks and next generation 5G services in Non-Standalone (NSA) mode. They can also migrate to Standalone (SA) mode through a simple software upgrade in the future. Samsung’s solution implements many of the key technologies of 5G networks, such as Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS), which are essential for network operators to scale their networks and support the new services enabled by 5G technology.

“Korea has long been regarded a leader when it comes to mobile technology and service adoption, and it is a market that other operators and vendors follow closely, said Daryl Schoolar, Practice Leader for Service Provider Technologies at Ovum. Samsung’s significant role in helping all three Korean mobile operators roll out their commercial 5G networks gives the vendor significant credibility as it looks to expand its 5G network solutions into other markets around the globe.”

5G Massive MIMO Unit (3.5GHz)

Starting May 21, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an initiative uniting the world’s leading telecommunications standard development organizations, will convene in Busan, Korea to complete communication standards, vital for the commercialization of 5G wireless communications. Samsung Electronics’ research into ultra-high frequency (mmWave) for 5G extends back to 2009 when the Dallas, Texas branch of Samsung Research, formerly known as the Digital Media & Communications (DMC) R&D center, fixed its sights on ultra-high frequency above 6GHz.

Samsung Research’s Dallas, Texas branch, pictured in 2009.

“We had a strong belief in the potential of ultra-high frequency, then considered uncharted space for the industry, and pushed forward in R&D, one step ahead of other companies,” said Sungho Choi, Vice President of the Standard Research Team at Samsung Research. “This was during a time when basically everyone in the telecommunications industry was busy preparing for the transition to 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and there was great uncertainty as to what would come after.”

Early Efforts by Samsung Electronics

In 2009, the Dallas office initiated an in-depth study into next generation telecommunications technology and delivered a proposal on ultra-high frequency to Samsung Research. In the extensive 300-page report, ultra-high frequency, with the application of cutting-edge beamforming technology, was seen as the method to solve the challenge of ultra-high-speed, large-volume transmission.

This was at a time, however, when the dominant opinion of papers and books on telecommunications had doubt about the application of ultra-high frequency due to its drawbacks. However, believing in the potential of its discovery, in 2011, Samsung Electronics initiated an in-house project to expand upon research, and in the following year, Samsung Research established a “Next Generation Communications Lab,” accelerating the development of ultra-high frequency and 5G technologies.

As the culmination of its early efforts, Samsung Electronics’ successful demonstration of the world’s first 5G communications, with speed of 1Gpbs, made headlines in 2013, thanks to the close to four years of advanced research at a time when 4G LTE was enjoying its rise to the height of popularity.

In 2013, Samsung Electronics successfully demonstrated the world’s first 5G communications, at a speed of 1Gbps.

Finding the Optimal Band for 5G, 28GHz

The research into ultra-high frequency posed a critical question for the international community related to the ideal frequency band for 5G. At the time, nationally regulated frequencies, in the range between 0 and 300GHz, were already allocated for communications, broadcasting, science and military purposes. The challenge was encouraging as many countries as possible to use the same bands for 5G to accelerate standardization and commercialization.

“When beginning our research, we studied almost every ‘frequency map’ in the world,” said Juyeon Song, Principal Engineer of the Standard Research Lab at Samsung Research. “We arrived at the conclusion that the most applicable ultra-high frequency band is 28GHz.”

Propelling Standard Development After Approval of Ultra-High Frequency as the 5G Candidate Band

Samsung strived to continue technology development after identifying the optimal candidate band for 5G, 28GHz. However, researchers soon reached an impasse: persuading those countries, who had already allocated the band for core industries other than communications, as well as certain business segments, who were reluctant to rush the commercialization of 5G during the dominance of 4G.

“Witnessing the saturation point of using traditional frequencies below 6GHz, more countries began to pay attention to ultra-high frequency,” said Hyoungjin Choi, Principal Engineer of the Standard Research Lab at Samsung Research. “Targeting these countries and companies with a great interest in the utilization of the frequency band and commercialization of 5G laid the foundation for standardization.”

During the 2015 WRC, the Korean government submitted a proposal to utilize ultra-high frequency technology for 5G.

During the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations, the Korean government submitted a proposal on by Samsung. However, the issue was alignment with countries that wanted to use the ultra-high frequency band for services other than telecommunications services. During the ensuing four-weeks of marathon meetings, several ultra-high frequency bands were finally approved as candidate bands for 5G, propelling standardization.

Since WRC in 2015, with debate ongoing, Samsung has continued its efforts to advocate and serve as the leading proponent of 5G standardization, towards the aim of the development of technologies related to ultra-high frequencies. Read the second part of this special series for more on Samsung’s journey after 2016 to develop 5G standards, including 28GHz^* ultra-high frequency.

^*The 3GPP is standardizing more than 30 candidate bands from a low frequency of 600MHz to ultra-high frequency of 40GHz. 28GHz is the representative ultra-high frequency band which leading 5G countries are seeking to prioritize to realize 5G commercialization.

A recent vote, held at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in Sophia Antipolis, France, saw Suresh Chitturi (front row, fifth from right) elected as the new Chairman of the 3GPP SA6 Working Group

Mr. Suresh Chitturi, Director for Standards at the Samsung Research Institute in Bangalore, was recently elected as new Chairman of the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Service and System Aspect 6 (SA6) Working Group by acclamation in Sophia Antipolis, France.

The 3GPP is a collaborative project aimed at developing global standards for acceptable specifications of telecommunications networks. The project is comprised of three Technical Specification Groups (TSGs), under which 16 Working Groups oversee specifications for each sector. In addition to Mr. Chitturi, new Chairman of SA6, other Samsung officials currently serving in elected roles on the 3GPP include one TSG Chairman, two Chairman of Working Groups, and two Vice-Chairman. For his part, Mr. Chitturi will lead the SA6 Working Group for the next two years.

For its part, the SA6 is a key working group responsible for the development of application layer standards. Since its inception in 2014, SA6 has played a significant role in the development of Mission Critical Applications Standards across Long-Term Evolution (LTE), a global standard widely adopted by public safety agencies and other critical communication industry verticals. The Standards enable the use of push-to-talk voice, video and data communications for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) operations over broadband networks.

“Providing leadership to 3GPP SA6 Working Group, especially in this era of new mobile communications, is a unique opportunity. We at Samsung value the importance of the activity of 3GPP and SA6 in creating a robust platform for future 5G services, leading up to the era of 5G commercialization,” said Mr. Chitturi.

Mr. Chitturi currently serves as the Director for Standards at the Samsung Research Institute in Bangalore, India

While there is a significant industry effort to develop the new 5G standard, which is scheduled to be ready by June this year, the focus on 5G services will be far more critical to the applications of 5G technology. Mission Critical Application Standards, which apply to the essential systems critical to the survival of a business or organization, will remain a key responsibility of SA6 Working Group particularly in the move towards diverse applications of 5G. For instance, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), smart factories, as well as 5G service application programming interface (API) frameworks will allow 3^rd party verticals to leverage the rich capabilities of the 5G core network and new radio.

“Samsung’s leadership in the 5G space has been a result of our technology innovation and strong collaboration with ecosystem players. We recognize the important role of 3GPP and SA6 in shaping the future of 5G services. The appointment of Suresh as the Chairman of 3GPP is testimony of Samsung India R&D team’s strength in defining global standards and the wealth of research talent that Samsung attracts in India,” said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, SRI-B.

Prior to being elected Chairman, Mr. Chitturi served as Vice-Chairman of SA6 Working Group, providing key contribution to the timely completion of Mission Critical Standards to meet the needs of the Critical Communications industry. Mr. Chitturi also represents Samsung on the Governing Council of TSDSI, the India Telecom Standards Development Organization (SDO), and has previously held leadership positions in several other SDOs such as World Wide Web (W3C), Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Java Community Process (JCP), and the GSM Association (GSMA).

In addition to the appointment of Mr. Chitturi, Mr. Aris Papasakellariou, Senior Director of Standards at Samsung Research America, received the 2017 3GPP Excellence Award earlier this month for his outstanding contributions in the field of radio access technology for 5G.

Samsung continues its significant contribution and progress in making 5G a reality, with advancements including introduction of the world’s first 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) commercial solutions at MWC 2018, as well as being selected as supplier by many of the world’s leading carrier companies.