Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

As 5G enters a new stage of high-quality development, small base stations have also ushered in a broad space for development. 5G small base stations can improve and supplement large network coverage, provide a continuous and consistent 5G experience, and provide personalized service capabilities for vertical industries. In 2022, the three major operators launched the collection of 5G small base stations, marking the official debut of 5G small base stations.

In order to explore how the small base station can contribute to the digital transformation of Qianhang Baiye and empower the high-quality development of 5G, a full-media reporter from the Communications World recently interviewed Li Nan, deputy director of the Institute of Wireless and Terminal Technology of China Mobile Research Institute.

The demand for 5G small base stations will continue to grow "communication world": at present, the commercial use of 5G small base stations has been officially opened. Looking forward to the future, what do you think is the development trend of 5G small base stations and what is the focus of application?

Li Nan: with the accelerated construction of 5G network in recent years, by the end of February, the total number of 5G base stations in China has reached 2.384 million, and the number of 5G users has reached 590 million. 5G network coverage has been completed in urban areas, most counties and some townships. With the gradual completion of the basic coverage of the 5G network, the operators will focus on the network construction of the subdivision scene. The frequency band of 5G spectrum resources is generally on the high side, and the ability to penetrate indoors from outdoors is weak. at the same time, considering that 80% of the traffic of data services occurs indoors, especially in the future, with the continuous development of AR / VR, cloud games, high-definition video and other services that require high transmission and delay, indoor coverage will become an important direction of 5G network construction in the next few years.

Compared with the traditional room, the 5G small base station has obvious advantages in throughput, the number of service users and the flexibility of frequency band selection, which can provide better cell coverage performance and better user experience. In addition to providing an important supplement for public network coverage, 5G small base stations also have the ability to support cloud, intelligent and integrated with edge computing technologies, which can provide overall solutions for vertical industries such as the industrial Internet, and will play an important role in the construction of 5G private networks in the industry. With the continuous deepening of the follow-up indoor network construction and the sustained and rapid development of the industry market, the demand for 5G small base stations will continue to grow. In the next 3 years, the 5G small base station market is expected to usher in scale growth.

Provide low-cost, integrated service for vertical industry "Communication World": what are the characteristics of vertical industry users' demand for 5G private network? what is the progress of China Mobile in 5G private network? what are the attempts to integrate 5G small base stations into the vertical industry?

Li Nan: China Mobile attaches great importance to the development of 5G private network and vigorously promotes the overall production of 5G private network. By the end of 2022, China Mobile had signed a total of more than 18000 commercial cases in the 5G industry, bringing the signing amount of DICT projects to 36.5 billion yuan and 5G private network revenue to 2.55 billion yuan, an increase of 107.4% over the same period last year. Based on a large number of practical work of private network construction, China Mobile has summed up several main needs of customers in vertical industry for 5G private network.

Capacity customization: Qianhang Baiye has many and different requirements for 5G network, from network capacity and connection reliability to business delay, value-added service expansion, etc., customization requires almost "one industry, one network", or even "one project, one network". Network capacity is required and can be customized flexibly.

The cost can be controlled: the budget of the information transformation project of the industry customers is generally limited, the users are sensitive to the price, and pay close attention to the performance-to-price ratio of the scheme. the low-cost construction scheme has become the key factor to open up the 5G private network market.

Agile deployment: network construction needs to match the production rhythm of users, private network system packaging and delivery, rapid configuration, simple maintenance has become the basic needs of industry customers.

Easy to use: users require Internet products, sales full process online, business opening agility, easy to use.

Based on general hardware platform, 5G small base station products can rely on cloud native architecture and software definition technology, organically combine 5G network access, open capacity, wireless AI and industry application guarantee and other service capabilities, and deploy them on the general server platform of industry customers according to project requirements, providing low-cost cloud, network, computing, intelligent and industry integrated services.

In 2022, China Mobile deployed a collaborative intelligent plan for 5G small base station network industry based on wireless intelligent controller (RIC) at Huafu Plant in Maanshan, Anhui Province, which can effectively improve the guarantee capability of key performance indicators such as delay, throughput and delay jitter of video surveillance and AGV control services, and meet the SLA needs of customers in the industry. In addition to the industrial Internet scene, 5G Xiaoji station also has a wide range of application requirements in business scenarios such as coal mine, field survey and urban Internet of things.

Relying on small base stations to create a new generation of edge computing base "communication world": edge computing is a very important technology in 5G field, and computing power is an important starting point for operators. When edge computing, computing power and small base stations are combined, what kind of spark will burst out?

Li Nan: with the deepening of digital transformation, the business cloud shows explosive growth of diversity. Cloud services not only put forward higher requirements for computing power, but also have higher requirements in service delay, data security, service connection reliability and so on. The centralized construction of large-scale IDC can not fully meet the needs of cloud services in the future. If we say that "counting from the east to the west" is the "central nerve" of the computing network, building marginal cloud nodes with the ability to connect and serve is an important "nerve endings" of the computing network, and solving the problem of the deterministic service ability of the "last kilometer" of the computing network is also the key for the computing network to serve more economic entities and enter all walks of life.

The wireless computing network, which is deeply integrated with edge computing, computing network and 5G small base stations, is based on wireless computing and wireless communication capabilities, and covers the fields of new generation information technology, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, ubiquitous awareness, and so on. Cooperative scheduling of wireless computing, wireless communication and diversified services is implemented for business optimal experience, and the optimal matching of service quality assurance, computing and communication is realized. It is the concrete embodiment of the computing network at the wireless access level. Wireless computing network will revolutionize the underlying design of wireless communication infrastructure and create a multi-service, multi-dimensional and efficient edge computing base for 5G-Advanced and 6G.

Wireless computing network will give rise to new market segmentation opportunities for wireless edge cloud services characterized by cloud, network, computing, intelligence, industry delivery and integrated services. In the application scenario of small and medium-sized micro private network, the traditional network, cloud platform and industry system are purchased independently, customized and integrated on site, and each system operates independently. This model has the advantages of high cost, complex operation and maintenance, and difficult marketing, while the wireless computing network based on 5G small base stations is expected to change the production mode of small and medium-sized private networks and stimulate the vitality of the wireless edge cloud service market by relying on the cost advantages of general platforms, flexible customization of cloud architecture, rapid launch of applications, one-stop agile delivery of full service, IT unified intelligent operation and maintenance, and so on.

Under the top-level design of the group's computing network, China Mobile Research Institute actively promoted the evolution of the wireless access network to the computing direction, and proposed the wireless computing network architecture design plan under the leadership of the China Communications Standardization Association, and developed for industry users, local multi-cloud choreography capability components and wireless intelligent applications, and will be integrated and delivered in the self-research cloud 5G small base station within the year. Through the innovation of underlying core technology, China Mobile strives to realize the integrated deployment and computing arrangement of 5G wireless communication business and enterprise cloud service based on common service platform, help industry partners' infrastructure unified investment, unified management and unified maintenance, reduce the infrastructure investment and operation and maintenance costs of industry customers'5G connection and information upgrading, and greatly improve the infrastructure utilization efficiency of vertical industry. Create a new generation of edge computing base.

Promote the scale landing and sustainable development of 5G small base stations "communication world": do you have any suggestions for ensuring the large-scale landing performance of small base stations and the sustainable development of small base station industry?

Li Nan: the 5G small base station is a new wireless device station type. In order to ensure the large-scale landing performance of small base stations, on the one hand, small base station manufacturers need to build large-scale production and delivery capacity, as well as an agile operation and maintenance system covering the whole country, and establish a deep business connection and trust relationship with provincial and municipal companies of operators. Form an ecological closed loop of "research, production, maintenance and maintenance", and constantly iterate to optimize the performance and cost of small base stations. On the other hand, provincial and municipal companies of operators also need to be familiar with the capability characteristics of 5G small base stations as soon as possible, find out the appropriate deployment scenarios of 5G small base stations, and accumulate experience in multi-scene interoperation configuration and network collaborative optimization between small base stations and macro base stations to ensure the large-scale landing performance of 5G small base stations.

At this stage, to promote the sustainable development of the small base station industry, the core is to ensure the landing of the purchased 5G small base stations and promote sustainable procurement, so that the cost and performance improvements brought about by the introduction of the new station type can be shown and sustained. it has not only been recognized by all customers, but also allowed small base station manufacturers to get a reasonable return on their R & D investment for many years, so that they can survive and maintain the ability of iterative research and development. On this basis, the industry needs to continuously excavate the deployment scenarios of small base stations in large networks and industry segments, and further expand the service capabilities of small base stations, for example, increase the number of antennas / cells supported, enhance intelligent business security capabilities, enhance service integration capabilities, and even explosion-proof, radiation-proof and other special industry application capabilities, and further expand the types of small base stations to meet the customized needs of thousands of industries.

"Communication World": it is reported that China Mobile completed the bidding for "skin expansion" small base stations in 2022. What is the specific progress? What are the plans for small base station construction and industry market expansion in 2023?

Li Nan: after bidding for 5G small base stations in 2022, under the unified planning and overall guidance of the group, China Mobile provincial companies are actively carrying out trial commercial deployment of 5G small base stations in cooperation with the winning bidder, and the research institute is also fully supporting it to solve the technical problems in the landing deployment of the new station type. After the commercial end of the trial, the 5G small base station will enter the full roll-out phase. In 2023, China Mobile will make every effort to ensure the landing of small base stations and actively promote the expansion of the industry market, timely carry out industrialization verification of new station types, constantly create value points, enhance industrial confidence, and promote the sustainable development of small base station industry.

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