Massive MIMO PoC in 5G Berlin

Massive MIMO antennas promise gains in directivity of beamforming and spatial multiplexing. This comes along with a number of challenges regarding antenna size, weight and power consumption especially in the frequency range below 4 GHz. Fraunhofer HHI exhibits a flexible prototyping platform for massive MIMO to test feasibility and measure performance of massive MIMO beamforming algorithms. The modular approach allows for variable number of antennas. This enables in particular testing of novel antenna array configurations e.g. sparse array processing. The base modules of the platform consist of 8 TRx transceiver units including rf baseband and a high power amplification unit per transceiver with integrated antenna calibration and DPD feedback loop.

At Mobile World Congress 2019, Fraunhofer HHI demonstrates high precision spatial nulling with advanced beamforming allowing for directional interference suppression.

Testing software for vehicle communication

At Mobile World Congress 2019, the Fraunhofer HHI is going to present an SDR-based platform for the development, evaluation and further development of current vehicle communication solutions. The solution can operate with the LTE-V2X Sidelink Mode4 standard and enables accurate analysis of data communication at all layers through software implementation. Thereby, essential parameters of the configuration are changeable during operation in order to create different system states for applications based on it. Thus, the wireless interface can be enhanced and optimized to react to different channel characteristics. The first 5G extensions in the field of vehicle communication are already feasible today. The platform is ready not only just for evaluation in the laboratory as a measuring system, but also for active use in the vehicle.

Compressed video data are growing at a faster rate than ever before. Already today, video data make up by far the highest percentage of bits on the Internet and in mobile traffic. This demonstrates the need for even more efficient compression, which goes beyond the current state of the art High Efficiency Video Coding standard (HEVC). In order to master this demanding challenge, the ITU-T Video Coding Expert Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) have already started working together in the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET).  In April 2018, Fraunhofer HHI and other leading technology companies successfully proposed cutting edge coding technology with compression capability beyond HEVC. This marked the starting point of the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standardization activity. The VVC standard is expected to provide 50% bit rate reduction over HEVC when finalized by 2020.

At Mobile World Congress 2019, Fraunhofer HHI will showcase the most recent version of the VVC reference codec (VTM-3.0). This early version already demonstrates significant coding efficiency improvements over HEVC for content ranging from standard High Definition (HD) to High Dynamic Range Ultra-HD content.

The beginning rollout of the first 5G networks also marks the premiere of novel technologies such as beamforming massive MIMO systems and millimeter-wave (mmW) radio access in large-scale deployments. These new technologies also bring along new challenges for network operators with respect to testing of their network deployments and coverage verification.

At Mobile World Congress 2019, Fraunhofer HHI presents a measurement solution for millimeter-wave small cells, that allows a deeper insight into cell coverage and radio propagation by augmenting signal quality metrics with beam-level direction of arrival (DoA) information. Built on Fraunhofer HHI’s proven DoA technology, it is designed for in-situ operation on live 5G networks and may be integrated with a variety of test and measurement equipment.