Next Generation Small Cell Technologies - TDD and FDD, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, and 20MHz - Multi-cells and component CA including multiple cells architecture, CA of multiple CCs, and flexible bandwidth configurations for CCs - Dynamic cell combine and split including support for load balancing and power control and flexible RF unit collaboration and joint processing - Advanced MIMO including UL transmit diversity, UL spatial multiplexing, and DL non-codebook-based beamforming Next Generation Small Cell Reference Design - L1 link level simulation platforms including DL and UL transceivers - Commercial grade small cell reference design on SoC or general processor platforms - Complete test infrastructure to verify and validate 3GPP requirements End-to-end System Integration - Reference C-RAN integration platform with end-to-end system verification Notes: TDD: Time Division Duplex FDD: Frequency Division Duplex CA: Carrier Aggregation CC: Component Carrier RF: Radio Frequency MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output UL: Uplink DL: Downlink L1: Layer 1 SoC: System on Chip 3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project
Mr Yan Lam, Raymond Lee
Mr Yat Fai, Eric Leung
Mr Lei Xu
Dr Jihui, Elaine Zhang
Mr Heung Wing, Jack Hung
Dr Wei Han
Mr Mingjie Peng
Mr Kin Wai, Frankie Tam
Mr Ching Hong, Chris Leung
Dr Ho Yin, Herbert Chan
Dr Feng, Samuel Liu
Miss Yeuk Lan, Iris Hui
Mr Wui Kin, Ken Lam
Dr Wang Kit, Wilson Thong
Mr Wei Xiong
Dr Chunhua Sun
Dr Yuxian Zhang
Mr Ying Lun, Walter Tsui
Mr Zhi Wu
Mr Qifeng, Kelvin Liao
Mr Chengye, Leaf Xu
Mr Jun, Jacky Zhu
Mr Chao, Charles Liu
Mr Siu To, Vincent Ng
Mr Kam Tai Yam
Dr Yiu Man, Stanley Lam
Dr Jie Chuai
Miss Xiaoting Wu
Dr Man Wai, Victor Kwan
Dr Yin Ping, Irene Cheung
Mr Yuliang Chai
Miss Jia Jiang
Dr Yun Hou
Dr Eddy Chiu
Dr Xiang Chen
Miss Yuanyuan, Yvonne Du
Mr Jiewei Ding
Mr Xiangyu, Ricky Liu
Dr Yueping, Veronica Wu
Dr Yaming Luo
Mr Calvin Lee
Ms On Kei, Angel Cheung
Ms Mei Fan, Rebecca Choi
Dr Xinyi Liu
Mr Jui Kuang, Ray Ho
Mr Koon Man, Angus Sam
Dr Che-I, Justin Chuang
Fujian Sunnada Communication Co., Ltd
HeBei FarEast Communication System Engineering Co., Ltd
Rohde & Schwarz Hong Kong
Small cells in LTE network enhanced the network capacity, coverage and provided a better user experience. The next generation small cells create new market opportunities and aim to provide higher capacity/density in scenarios such as indoor hot spot areas, higher flexibility and power saving for dynamic cell configuration and green communications, and higher performance with advanced antenna and interference control. Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is a centralized, cloud computing based new cellular network architecture serving these purposes. It composes of a centralized Baseband Unit (BBU) pool aggregating the resources for baseband processing and distributed Remote Radio Head (RRH) providing the radio coverage with short path loss. To support ASTRI’s technology evolution, ASTRI plans to develop a C-RAN reference design which includes baseband pools and basic L2/L3 blocks for end-to-end networking to support (i) multiple cells with carrier aggregation (CA) which enables flexible bandwidth configuration for higher throughput, (ii) dynamic cell combine and split with reduced operation expense and network optimization, and (iii) advanced MIMO techniques to improve spectrum efficiency and reliability. The deliverables include L1 link level simulation platform for the DL and UL transceivers, a commercial grade BBU pool reference design of C-RAN and a complete test infrastructure to verify and validate 3GPP requirements. A number of companies have shown strong interests in collaborating with ASTRI and adopting our technologies to be developed from this project. Initially engaged customers include a SoC provider (Freescale), two LTE solution partners (Sunnada and HBFEC54) and a test equipment vendor (Rohde & Schwarz). Many other companies such as Intel, TCL, Sunwave, ELTA and CMCC have also been in contact with ASTRI for possible technology transfer from this project.