▲ Dr. Younsun Kim, Master at Samsung Research

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that it has secured a leadership position at the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the world’s largest telecommunications standard development organization.

During the plenary meeting held in Incheon on March 12, Dr. Younsun Kim, Master at Samsung Research, Samsung Electronics, was elected as Chair of the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network (TSG RAN)[1],  which is responsible for standardizing all aspects of wireless technology, such as the physical layer, protocol aspects, and radio resource control.

“I believe that my election as chair is further recognition of Samsung’s leadership in mobile communication technology,” said Dr. Kim. “6G standardization involves more than just solving technical issues; it is a collaborative effort requiring participation from all companies and organizations in the mobile communication sector. I will make every effort to successfully lead 3GPP’s TSG RAN and advance the standardization of 6G.”

Since its establishment in 1998, 3GPP has led the development of global mobile communication technology standards with participation from major telecommunications companies and organizations worldwide, including Samsung, Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia.

In May 2021, Dr. Kim was elected Chair of Radio Access Network Working Group 1 (RAN WG1), which is the largest working group within 3GPP and responsible for developing physical layer specifications for 3GPP radio access technologies. Over the past four years, Dr. Kim has successfully led the standardization of 5G physical layer technology, significantly contributing to the emergence of the 5G network industry.

Through Dr. Kim’s expanded role as chair of 3GPP TSG RAN starting in May, Samsung will be able to contribute to the standardization of 6G, the next generation of mobile communication technology.

Dr. Kim’s appointment to the chair position of the Technical Specification Group is viewed as a recognition of Samsung’s contributions and technological leadership in the mobile communication industry.

The company currently holds two chair positions in RAN WG1 and SA WG2, as well as four vice-chair positions in RAN WG2, SA WG4, SA WG6 and CT WG3. With Dr. Kim’s election as Chair of TSG RAN, Samsung Electronics will maintain the industry’s highest number of chair positions within 3GPP, even after the RAN WG1 chair term expires, solidifying its pivotal role among over 800 member companies.

The advancement of mobile communication systems is now at a turning point. It must not only enhance transmission speeds but also drive 6G standardization with a focus on new values. 3GPP plans to launch research on 6G in the second half of this year.

6G aims to achieve future-oriented and sustainable advancements in mobile communication technology, including improving the energy efficiency of networks, enhancing network quality using AI and introducing security technologies to prevent attacks originating from quantum computers. At this critical milestone, Dr. Kim’s election as chair by the support from international mobile communication standards experts holds great significance.

Meanwhile, Samsung recently published a 6G White Paper titled, “AI-Native & Sustainable Communication” that outlines the latest trends and future of next-generation mobile communication technologies. It also highlights Samsung’s leadership in 6G research and other key technologies.

With its leadership in next-generation communication technology and Dr. Younsun Kim’s role as Chair of 3GPP, Samsung is expected to lead the standardization of 6G technology and make significant contributions to the advancement of the mobile communication industry overall.

For more information, please visit: https://www.samsung.com/my/

[1] The 3GPP comprises three Technical Specification Groups (TSGs): Radio Access Network (RAN), Service and System Aspects (SA), and Core Network and Terminals (CT). Each TSG consists of 4–6 Working Groups (WGs), for a total of 15 working groups.

As operators continue to extend their 5G coverage, a key challenge they face is the space and footprint restrictions at sites and on towers. Samsung’s all-in-one radio will address varied environmental and site demands–easing installation, saving space and reducing OPEX for operators. The new solution will become part of Samsung’s Radio Access Network (RAN) portfolio in early 2022, initially targeting the European market.

Key benefits of Samsung’s One Antenna Radio are:

• Site Simplification: The streamlined solution uses compact hardware to blend into a municipality’s environment, and reduces cabling and hardware elements to minimize visual impact in dense urban areas.
• Simplified Installation: Deployment is made simple by eliminating the need to install and connect radios and multiple antennas separately, accelerating installation and reducing labor costs.
• OPEX Savings: By requiring less space on sites or towers, and with a smaller footprint, operators can save on expenses, including rental and maintenance costs.

“We are proud to introduce our One Antenna Radio to provide industry-leading performance that’s designed to address various deployment environments,” said Wonil Roh, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Recognizing that mounting hardware, cabling, crew site time and space limitations are a challenge for most operators, we created a solution to help tackle this issue, and expand deployment boundaries.”

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

Topics covered during the event included Samsung’s 5G vision and latest network innovations; its industry leading virtualized solutions to bring innovation for mobile operators and enterprises; its new range of chipsets to be embedded in the Samsung’s next generation 5G solutions; and the company’s complete lineup of private network solutions to transform industries.

Check out some highlights from the event below.

At the event, Samsung Networks highlighted key developments in its global expansion, which includes delivery of over four million 5G-ready radios around the world. Samsung focused on how it is advancing virtualization to drive next-generation networks, and leading 5G radio innovation by embedding its radios with the company’s latest in-house chipsets.

“We are delighted to discuss the infinite possibilities of wireless technology, as we continue our 5G journey, and pave the way towards the next phase of 5G,” said Paul (Kyungwhoon) Cheun, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s 5G vision includes bringing together the best global expertise and technical insights that can help operators and consumers take full advantage of 5G benefits. We’re grateful that our customers and partners have joined us on this journey, and look forward to achieving many more 5G milestones together.”

The following are key areas of advancement that Samsung Networks leadership covered at the virtual event:

Virtualization

Virtualization of an entire network from Radio Access Network (RAN) to Core will offer multiple benefits to operators, bringing greater efficiency, scalability and flexibility in network management, as well as easier upgrades through software implementations. Recent vRAN accomplishments include the following solutions:

• Samsung vRAN has virtualized all elements of a baseband unit. Backed by years of R&D, Samsung deployed the industry’s first fully-virtualized commercial 5G RAN delivered end-to-end (Link). Recently, the company demonstrated the capability to support multi-gigabit speeds of Massive MIMO radios on COTS servers (Link), showing how the performance of vRAN technology is now near the performance of custom hardware solutions.

• Samsung vCore is built with a cloud-native containerized architecture, enabling operational automation while ensuring optimized performance. With high adaptability and scalability, Samsung 5G vCore allows network operators to quickly launch new services and upgrade per business needs. Since introducing its first virtualized Core in 2015, the company has successfully commercialized the world’s first 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) vCore, and achieved a significant milestone in data processing capacity on its 5G Standalone (SA) Core (Link).

• Network management solutions help optimize operational efficiencies in virtualized networks. Samsung Cloud Orchestration, known as SCO, coordinates an entirely automated process of network deployment and optimization. Samsung’s Network Slice Manager supports simplified management of slice resources, while AI-based analytics provides intelligent analysis of network performance.

5G Radios

Samsung has been pioneering 5G technology to support RAN solutions for more than a decade, through research, standardization and commercial rollouts of its highly competitive 5G solutions. New developments are:

• In-House Chipsets: Samsung continues its leadership in chipset research and development, with an expanded line-up of new chipsets, including a 3^rd generation RFIC, 2^nd generation 5G modem and DFE-RFIC integrated chip (Link), part of the company’s initiative to help foster compact and efficient, yet high-performing 5G solutions.

• New Solutions: Samsung continues to expand its 5G radio lineup. The company recently unveiled its wideband radio (Link) supporting 400MHz of bandwidth in mid-band, and designed to help operators drive more flexible and cost-effective deployments. Also introduced are the next generation 5G Compact Macro and baseband units, as well as its new One Antenna Radio (Link), a solution that delivers a more compact form factor with antenna integration, offering simplified installation and deployment efficiencies.

Private Networks

Samsung has the capability to build reliable and secure private networks, leveraging its comprehensive solutions portfolio. The company’s industry-leading 5G solutions offer a resilient backbone to private 5G networks, introducing use cases such as smart factories (Link) and a real-time 4K video monitoring system (Link). Samsung also provides end-to-end PS-LTE solutions, from network equipment to applications and devices. The company is powering the world’s first 3GPP-compliant nationwide PS-LTE network in Korea (Link), and accomplished the demonstration of the industry’s first MCPTX video call on a cloud platform (Link).

6G Future Vision

As part of its networks overview, Samsung Networks: Redefined shares Samsung’s vision of 6G technology, and the world it will help create. Samsung stays ahead in preparing for new generations of wireless technologies. The company led 5G research and development even before 4G deployments, and is already preparing for 6G. Now, the company is set to accelerate 6G innovation, bringing hyper-connected experiences to users (Link). Samsung recently explored the potential of the Terahertz (THz) spectrum application for 6G wireless communications, demonstrating an end-to-end 140GHz wireless link using a fully digital beamforming solution (Link).

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.