Samsung Electronics has unveiled a new addition to its Massive MIMO portfolio—the C-Band/CRBS Dual-band 16T16R Massive MIMO Radio.
The new radio is the industry’s first dual-band solution supporting both C-Band and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) bands in one unit. This provides a ‘one box’ solution that gives mobile operators a simplified way to support two mid-band spectrums that are essential to driving the next-generation of network evolution and 5G expansion.
C-Band spectrum (3.7GHz to 3.98GHz) is used in deployments to boost overall 5G capabilities, access and coverage, while CBRS (3.55GHz to 3.7GHz) opens new opportunities, such as powering private enterprise networks or bringing broadband to underserved areas. By using a dual-band radio, mobile operators no longer need to deploy two radios to provide the benefits of C-Band and CBRS. This helps reduce an operator’s footprint and lower energy consumption, while simplifying installation and operation.
The dual-band radio brings significant benefits to radio innovation. It is ultra-lightweight and compact—weighing approximately 14 kg (30 lbs). Plus, it is equipped with Samsung’s in-house built chipset, bringing greater flexibility by supporting 350MHz of bandwidth covering both C-Band and CBRS spectrums. Leveraging the wide bandwidth support, operators can aggregate these spectrum bands to maximize network capacity to handle high user demands.
This new dual-band Massive MIMO radio also integrates with Samsung’s virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN), offering greater agility to operators. By replacing dedicated baseband hardware with software elements, vRAN offers more deployment flexibility, greater scalability and improved resource efficiency in network operation. Samsung vRAN offers features and performance that are equivalent to traditional hardware-based equipment, while covering both low- and mid-band spectrums, as well as indoor and outdoor solutions.
Wonil Roh, SVP and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics
C-Band and CBRS are mid-band sweet spots that provide a perfect combination of coverage and capacity for 5G services. We are excited to introduce our latest addition to our Massive MIMO radios portfolio, a multi-band radio that offers unprecedented compactness and is lightweight.
