NEC and Analog Devices (ADI) have teamed up to design a 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit for Rakuten Mobile, announced the companies on Friday.
The radio unit adopts ADI's fourth-generation wideband RF transceiver solution to achieve high precision Massive MIMO and possesses a 5G open vRAN (virtual RAN) interface corresponding to Rakuten Mobile's end-to-end fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network. It delivers large capacity transmission with high efficiency by using 3.7GHz frequency Massive MIMO and digital beamforming technology.
The cloud-native virtual network heralds a major shift in how communications providers can offer high-speed internet access worldwide, at significantly lower costs, made possible without the maintenance, upkeep, repair and labor costs associated with the physical infrastructure that hinders conventional networks. NEC has already started shipping the 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit to Rakuten Mobile. ADI’s fourth-generation wideband RF transceiver integrates quad channel transmitters, receivers and Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) in a single chip. The radio is fully software reconfigurable and covers all sub-6GHz 5G frequency bands, simplifying radio designs.
NEC's 5G equipment utilizes highly accurate digital beamforming for efficient high-capacity transmission. The system also features seamless installation, achieved through circuit integration.
Nozomu Watanabe, Senior Vice President at NEC
ADI's RF transceiver is expertly designed to support wireless applications such as Massive MIMO and small cell systems, simplifying system design, reducing size and weight, and minimizing power consumption.
Greg Henderson, Senior Vice President at Analog Devices
By working with NEC to drive the first Massive MIMO installation for Rakuten Mobile, we're laying the groundwork to propel 5G connectivity forward.
