ASTRI took part in the ‘Hong Kong 5G Industry Forum 2018’ organised by the Communications Association of Hong Kong (CAHK) on 12 June 2018. The Forum addressed Hong Kong’s 5G development roadmap and the crucial roles to be played by different ecosystem players to support the Government’s Smart City and 5G development plans. Dr MeiKei Ieong, ASTRI’s Chief Technology Officer, presented a use-case keynote on 5G Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology at the Forum.

Mr Chaucer Leung, Deputy Director General (Telecommunications) of the HKSAR Government’s Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) presented a keynote titled ‘Gearing up for ushering in the 5G era’. Mr Leung covered key issues including 5G spectrum availability, the proposed auction for spectrum allocation, utilisation of various spectrum bands, and measures to ensure a smooth and non-disruptive introduction of 5G services. He spoke about the utilisation of the C-band 3.4~4.2 GHz spectrum that are used by other services such as Satellite-based television broadcasting as well as Hong Kong’s two Telemetry, Tracking and Control Stations for the SAR’s 12 satellites which orbit the Earth. It is worth mentioning that ASTRI, in partnership with Rohde & Schwarz, recently completed a consultancy study for OFCA on mitigating measures to enable satellite-based television and 5G services to co-exist on the 3.5 GHz band spectrum.

In his presentation, Dr Ieong focused on the latest developments in the ‘Connected Vehicles’ ecosystem and shared some perspectives from industry bodies like the global 5G Automotive Association. Explaining the software and hardware architecture of the Smart Mobility solution developed by ASTRI in collaboration with other industry players, he told the audience that ATSRI’s C-V2X Networking System has already been demonstrated to support the 3GPP Release 14 (LTE based V2X). It will also comply with the upcoming Release 15 supporting the 5G standards evolution.

The event included a Panel Discussion on ‘How the mobile industry is enabling 5G and Smart City Innovation in HK’. The panellists and other keynote speakers at the event represented leading industry players from Asia-Pacific and beyond including, SK Telecom of Korea, Huawei, Hong Kong Smart City Consortium, China Mobile, HKT, SmarTone, Hutchison and GSM Association.