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 virtualisation 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:

Virtualisation

Virtualisation 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 virtualised all elements of a baseband unit. Backed by years of R&D, Samsung deployed the industry’s first fully-virtualised 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 containerised 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 virtualised Core in 2015, the company has successfully commercialised 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 optimise operational efficiencies in virtualised networks. Samsung Cloud Orchestration, known as SCO, coordinates an entirely automated process of network deployment and optimisation. 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, standardisation 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 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 virtualised 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.

On July 14, Samsung released a white paper entitled “The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All.” outlining the company’s vision for the next generation communication system, namely 6G. The white paper covers various aspects related to 6G, including technical and societal megatrends, new services, requirements, candidate technologies and an expected timeline of standardisation.

Samsung’s vision for 6G is to bring the next hyper-connected experience to every corner of life. To accelerate research for 6G, Samsung Research, the advanced R&D hub within Samsung Electronics’ SET Business, founded its Advanced Communications Research Center in May of last year.

“While 5G commercialisation is still in its initial stage, it’s never too early to start preparing for 6G because it typically takes around 10 years from the start of research to commercialisation of a new generation of communications technology,” explained Sunghyun Choi, Head of the Advanced Communications Research Center. “We’ve already launched the research and development of 6G technologies by building upon the experience and ability we have accumulated from working on multiple generations of communications technology, including 5G. Going forward, we are committed to leading the standardisation of 6G in collaboration with various stakeholders across industry, academia and government fields.”

In the white paper, Samsung expects that the completion of the 6G standard and its earliest commercialisation date could be as early as 2028, while mass commercialisation may occur around 2030. Both humans and machines will be the main users of 6G, and 6G will be characterised by provision of advanced services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital replica. 

Whereas 5G requirements mainly focused on performance aspects, Samsung defines three categories of requirements that have to be met to realise 6G services – performance, architectural and trustworthiness requirements. Examples of 6G performance requirements are a peak data rate of 1,000 Gbps (gigabits per second) and air latency less than 100 microseconds (μs), 50 times the peak data rate and one-tenth the latency of 5G. A comparison of key performance requirements between 6G and 5G is shown in the diagram below.

The architectural requirements of 6G include resolving the issues arising from the limited computation capability of mobile devices as well as implementing AI right from the initial phase of technology development and enabling the flexible integration of new network entities. The trustworthiness requirement addresses the security and privacy issues arising from the widespread use of user data and AI technologies.

The white paper also introduces candidate technologies that could be essential to satisfy the requirements for 6G. These include the use of the terahertz (THz) frequency band, novel antenna technologies to enhance the coverage of high frequency band signals, advanced duplex technologies, the evolution of network topology, spectrum sharing to increase the efficiency of frequency utilisation and the use of AI in wireless communications.

Click here to download Samsung’s 6G white paper. More information on Samsung’s latest innovations in the communications technology field may be found on Samsung Research’s website.

Redefining Next-Generation Communication System as We Know It

Samsung Electronics was among the first to realise the commercialisation of 5G. Now, the company is set to accelerate research for 6G with the vision of bringing the next generation of hyper-connected experiences to every corner of our lives in the future.

Wireless communications technology has developed from the first-generation analog communication, in which only voice calls were supported, to the ultra-fast 5G of today, and the generation change of this technology is now progressing even more rapidly.

When asked to define communications technology, Choi summed it up as “technology that offers the infrastructure needed to enable people and things (i.e., devices, places, etc.) to connect and interact with one another across physical and virtual spaces.” As Choi explained, “It is the basis for the foundation of a smarter age in which AI and robots will become a common part of our lives.”

Today, communications technology connects not just people but also devices and other things all together, and it will keep evolving so as to allow the exchange of content and ideas in new and exciting ways. “Compared to the previous generations, current communication technology can process more data in shorter time,” Choi explained. “Network equipment is also undergoing evolutions to handle more demanding requirements of this technical trend.” Eventually, the industry is heading towards automation that can adapt to the complexity of advancing communication technologies and their operations to be able to raise the quality of service provided.

“Advances of communications technology have gone beyond simply facilitating the exchange of information,” Choi continued. “Now, it’s about advancing this technology in consideration of what types of businesses and services it can provide.”

A Commitment to Innovation

From a peak data rate of 20 Gbps (i.e., ultra-high-speed) to an air latency of 1 ms (i.e., ultra-low latency) and a reliability of 99.999 percent (i.e. ultra-reliability), it seems nearly everything is becoming “ultra” in the 5G era. Indeed, you could say that we’re no longer talking about the evolution of wireless communications technology, but rather the beginning of a whole new world of “ultra” experiences.

This shift in perspective has been made possible thanks in large part to collaboration amongindustries, academia, and research institutions. Through its commercialisation of 5G, and through collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU–R), Samsung has played a key role in developing the standards that define this new era of “ultra” experiences.

“Samsung Electronics has always innovated with an eye toward the future, continuously preparing for the next generation,” said Choi. “Now, we are witnessing the results of our long-term investment in the development of wireless communications technology. Not only do we lead the smartphone market, because we also possess a comprehensive portfolio of communication technologies, including smartphones, network equipment, and semiconductor chipsets, we’ve been able to see the market from various angles.”

The Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research is working tirelessly to chart a bold new future for wireless communications technology. One way that the center is achieving this, Choi explained, is by expanding its global capabilities. “Research centers in various regions across the globe are drawing from their strength of expertise to develop and standardise major core technologies.”

In order for Samsung to maintain its leadership in the development of communications technologies, he added, “The company must continue to nurture talents and take a long-term approach to the development of the next-generation communications technology.”

Going beyond 5G

Today, 5G technology is being applied to the core infrastructure of a wide range of industries, and is utilised to support everything from high-quality communications services to smart factories, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and a raft of other new services. Looking ahead, Choi described how taking this technology to the next level will require a great deal of research and development.

The path to overcoming some of the current technological challenges facing communications technologies, Choi explained, lies in enriching software’s capabilities and advancing AI. Networks of the future will demand capabilities that can process enormous amounts of information, which means that more powerful network equipment will be required, and the softwarisation, which can make equipment more flexible and less costly, will become increasingly important. Furthermore, developing core technologies for 6G with long-term vision and driving global standardisation are important.

More information on Samsung’s efforts to usher in a new era of wireless communications technology may be found in the company’s official 6G white paper, which is set for release today. The white paper covers various aspects related to 6G, including technical and societal megatrends, new services, requirements, candidate technologies, and an expected timeline of standardisation.

Making the Impossible Possible

The communications industry is evolving faster than any other, and there is fierce competition to define the future of this technology. As Choi pointed out, however, the focus for researchers in this field should not be the competition, but the long-term goal. “It’s important to conduct research with a long-term view,” Choi explained, noting that several communications technologies that have changed life as we know it ultimately took decades to commercialise.

“We are currently conducting research on technology that may seem difficult to realise now, but may have potential in the future,” added Choi. “In particular, by focusing on services that have not yet been explored and that Samsung is uniquely qualified to deliver, we’re constantly thinking about the types of services that users of the future will need. As a global leader in wireless communications technology, we will continue to design technology that can contribute to the advancement of mankind.”

Choi has worked in this field for over 30 years, and has spent the last 17 years advancing communications technology in academia. Today, Choi remains as fascinated by this technology as he’s ever been. He’s pleased to work with experts at Samsung Research who share his passion, and he’s committed to nurturing the talents of his world-class team, having vowed to “continue to support the growth of our team members, who already rank among the best engineers in the world.”

The next 10 years, Choi continued, will be particularly exciting, as we will witness the “beginning of a world in which the impossible becomes possible.”

“Going forward, the future of communications technology will be defined by its ability to bring the next hyper-connected experience for all,” said Choi. “As we aspire to become the best in the industry, our world-class engineers will continue to strive to realise a world, where the impossible becomes possible.”