Press Release | ASTRI - Hong Kong Applied Science And Technology Research Institute Company Limited

Hong Kong SAR Government honours Mr Wong Ming-yam, ASTRI’s Chairman, with the Silver Bauhinia Star

The HKSAR Government has announced the 2018 Hong Kong SAR Honours List. Among the recipients, four distinguished individuals have been honoured with the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM), ten with the Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS), 20 with the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS), and 40 with the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS). ASTRI’s Chairman Mr Wong Ming-yam, who was honoured with the BBS in 2012, has been conferred with the SBS Honour this year. The Honours recipients are from different walks of life. The SAR Government has bestowed the honours on them in recognition of significant contributions to Hong Kong – their dedicated public and community service. The presentation ceremony for the awards will be held on 27 October 2018.

In the citation for Mr Wong, the SAR Government announcement said: “Since his appointment as the Board Chairman of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) in 2013, Mr Wong has been steering the Board to set the policy and strategic directions for ASTRI and leading ASTRI to strengthen its corporate governance, research capabilities, commercialisation of research and development results, among others, to build up the branding of ASTRI.” The citation recognised his accomplishments in the field of innovation and technology, and lauded his significant contributions to “enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness in technology-based industries.”

On behalf of the entire ASTRI organisation, we wholeheartedly congratulate Mr Wong Ming-yam for this well-deserved recognition. As the Chairman of ASTRI’s Board, he has selflessly dedicated his deep knowledge and vast experience to the advancement of ASTRI’s R&D endeavours. With over 35 years of experience in technology-based sectors, Mr Wong remains as passionate as ever about fostering innovation and serving the community. In addition to providing strategic leadership and governance oversight to ASTRI as its Chairman, he is also a key source of inspiration for its Management and the entire workforce. He continues to be associated with several Government Boards and Committees on Innovation and Technology, and keeps serving the interest of the city as well as of the nation in his many capacities.

Delegation from All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce visits ASTRI

A delegation of some 20 members from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, led by Mr Xu Lejiang, Deputy Minister of the Central United Front Work Department and Secretary of Party Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, visited ASTRI on 27 June 2018. The delegation was welcomed by ASTRI’s Chairman Mr Wong Ming-yam and Senior Director (Advanced Digital Systems) Mr Li Yiu-kei. While at the Smart City Innovation Centre, the delegation witnessed a number of ASTRI’s latest R&D technologies, including naked-eye 3D display technology, Palm Fusion Biometric Sensing and Authentication system, as well as 5G applications for marine, land and air communications.

Mr Li Yiu-Kei, Senior Director (Advanced Digital Systems) of ASTRI (middle) explained the naked-eye 3D display technology to Mr Xu Lejiang, Deputy Minister of the Central United Front Work Department and Secretary of Party Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (1st from left).

The delegation was welcomed by ASTRI’s Chairman Mr Wong Ming-yam (Front row , 4th from the left).

ASTRI’s technology expert exchanged insights and view with the delegation regarding the future development of 5G solutions and technology.

ASTRI and HPE jointly demonstrate AI-enabled V2X Edge Traffic Management Solution at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), collaborating with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), is showcasing its end-to-end Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Networking System with AI-enabled V2X Edge Traffic Management, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2018 in China.

ASTRI’s end-to-end V2X Networking System features:

V2X in-car processing unit, which consists of gateway software and enhanced V2X (E-V2X) communications module to facilitate information exchange between vehicles and infrastructure, decision making alerts, and autonomous driving integration;
V2X Road Side Units (RSUs), which enables real-time traffic status monitoring, V2X alert notifications and traffic recommendation to road users;
AI-enabled V2X Edge Gateway (EGW) with AI algorithms at network edge for real-time road alerts and traffic management. The edge processing server is based on HPE Edgeline EL4000 Converged Edge Systems powered by Intel® Xeon® D Processors; and
Centralised V2X Cloud deployed in both regional and central data centres to support large scale vehicle management and traffic data analytics.

The demonstration showcases how multiple V2X RSUs work through intelligent coordination and policy provisioning, and how real time traffic data analytics is carried out in V2X EGW, powered by artificial intelligence. The system can quickly detect unexpected traffic situations like accidents and congestions, and promptly inform road users including suggestions of alternative route plan. The system is also able to detect imminent risks and threats, and issue real-time alert to vehicle drivers and other individual road users to avoid accidents.

The demonstration will also showcase how the cost-effective edge processing servers, enabled by Intel and HPE technologies, can scale out a V2X system, forwarding and processing low-latency packets of data at high-throughput.

The innovative design of ASTRI’s V2X Networking System will enable equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Tier-1 suppliers and autonomous vehicle (AV) vendors to develop and launch numerous V2X edge applications. It also helps operators, service providers and equipment vendors by rolling out scalable V2X on a commercial basis, and provisioning of 5G services for their customers. It enables city administrators and transport operators to implement real-time and intelligent traffic management, to ensure safer and more efficient traffic management.

Dr Justin Chuang, ASTRI’s Vice President for Next Generation Network, said: “As the largest applied R&D institution in Hong Kong, ASTRI dedicates significant resources in developing innovative technological applications on 5G. We are pleased to collaborate with Intel and HPE to develop mobile core/edge and V2X technologies towards 5G. Once launched in the market, these technologies will bring significant benefits to the entire industry. We expect our long-term collaboration will bring more ground-breaking technologies to add strong, practical value in the 5G era.”

ASTRI has been an Intel® Network Builders ecosystem partner since 2016. As part of that ecosystem, ASTRI and Intel published a Solution Brief and Whitepaper on NFV for small cell networks, and a Whitepaper for C-RAN. The demonstration takes places at ASTRI’s booth (N1. E60) at the MWC Shanghai 2018 taking place at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC) in China from 27 – 29 June 2018. Please visit the official website https://www.mwcshanghai.com/ for details of the event.

About ASTRI

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) was founded by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2000 with the mission of enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research. ASTRI’s core R&D competences in various areas are organised under seven Technology Divisions, namely Communications Technologies, Electronics Components, Mixed Signal Systems IC, Advanced Digital Systems, Opto-electronics, Security and Data Sciences, and Intelligent Software and Systems. Five areas of applications including financial technologies, intelligent manufacturing, next generation network, health technologies, and smart city are identified for major pursuit. Please visit www.astri.org , for further information about ASTRI.

ASTRI Media enquiries:

Ms Eunice Cheng Tel: (852) 3406 2517 Email: [email protected]

Rohde & Schwarz and ASTRI jointly demonstrate NB-IoT signal analyser and base station solutions at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Shanghai

Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) and Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) are showcasing the latest NB-IoT standard-compliant base station solutions at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Shanghai, China. The solutions use R&S FSW26 signal and spectrum analyser from Rohde & Schwarz for 3GPP NB-IoT standard-compliant BS downlink signals. The demonstration revealed ASTRI’s latest NB-IoT Base Station (BS) solution consisting of Sunnada NXP B4850 based Baseband Unit (BBU) and Network Radio Remote Unit (RRU).

The R&S FSW26 together with its EUTRA/LTE NB-IoT Downlink Measurements software (R&S FSW-K106) successfully demodulated the 3GPP NB-IoT compliant signals, i.e. Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel (NPDSCH), Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH), Narrowband Physical Broadcast Control Channel (NPBCH), Narrowband Reference Signal (NRS), Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal (NPSS) and Narrowband Secondary Synchronisation Signal (NSSS).

ASTRI’s solution enables additional NB-IoT features on the existing NXP B4860 LTE-A BS platform, purely through software upgrade. The system supports both LTE-A and NB-IoT, simultaneously on the same BBU. That makes it possible to deploy new NB-IoT and LTE-A cellular networks in the most effective and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore, the software-based design is highly customisable – supporting special requirements on private networks, such as LTE 230MHz systems on China electrical networks.

The demonstration is taking place at ASTRI’s booth (Hall N1 Stand N1.E60) in MWC 2018 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China from 27 – 29 June 2018.

About ASTRI

Media enquiries

Ms Eunice Cheng Tel: (852) 3406 2517 Email: [email protected]

About Rohde & Schwarz

The Rohde & Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets innovative test and measurement, information and communications technology products for professional users. Rohde & Schwarz focuses on test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications and monitoring and network testing, areas that address many different industry and government-sector market segments. Founded more than 80 years ago, the independent company has an extensive sales and service network in more than 70 countries. On June 30, 2017, Rohde & Schwarz had approximately 10,500 employees. The group achieved a net revenue of approximately EUR 1.9 billion in the 2016/2017 fiscal year (July to June). The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and also has regional hubs in Asia and the USA.

R&S ® is a registered trademark of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG.

Enabling the 5G Ecosystem: ASTRI demonstrates the latest 5G and V2X technologies at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) is collaborating with Fu Huake Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. (a Subsidiary of Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. Ltd.), Fujian Sunnada Network Technology Co. Ltd., Rohde & Schwarz, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), to showcase a series of latest 5G, Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Vehicle to Everything (V2X) technologies at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2018.

The demonstrations take place at ASTRI’s booth (N1.E60) in MWC Shanghai, taking place at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC) from 27 – 29 June 2018.

Working alongside its industry partners, ASTRI will showcase the below technologies to facilitate the deployment of competitive services and innovative solutions across the Hong Kong, Great Bay Area and international markets.

1. 8K + 5G video streaming on ASTRI 5G Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN)

ASTRI’s Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) reference design enables the design of next generation base-stations that are highly flexible to support both 4G and 5G services. The demonstration features the latest 3GPP Release 15 5G C-RAN Baseband Unit (BBU), User Equipment (UE) emulator developed by ASTRI, and a 5G wideband Remote Radio Unit (RRU) developed by Fu Huake. ASTRI is also showcasing the 8K (7,680 × 4,320 pixels) ultra-high definition (UHD) wireless video delivery from 5G C-RAN Base Station to 5G UE emulator over the 100MHz channels at the carrier frequency of 3.5GHz.

2. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Base Station

NB-IoT is a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) radio technology standard that enables a wide range of devices and services to be connected using cellular telecommunications bands. The demonstration showcases ASTRI’s latest NB-IoT Base Station solution consisting of Sunnada NXP B4850-based Baseband Unit (BBU) and Network Radio Remote Unit (RRU). The R&S FSW26 signal analyser certified the 3GPP NB-IoT standard compliance of the demonstrated BS solutions.

3. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) chip IP platform for terminals and sensor nodes

As a pioneer in this sector, ASTRI has developed low power and highly cost-efficient NB-IoT chip IP platform for terminals and sensor nodes. The highly integrated platform consists of RF transceiver, digital baseband, as well as embedded power amplifier and power management units.

4. 5G Core and Edge

The advent of 5G will proliferate the markets with an infinite number of smart city and smart manufacturing applications including smart mobility, smart living, Industrial IoT, and many more. 5G Core Network forms its critical part, with service-based architecture (SBA) and scalability to enable feature-rich new applications. ASTRI’s 5G Core Solution addresses:

– Connectivity: Virtual 5G Core Network Software complying with 3GPP Release 15 standards, while delivering market leading core network throughput

– Edge Computing: Enabling delay sensitive packets and data processing at edge cloud to support applications requiring low latency, such as connected vehicles

– Automation: 5G Network Orchestrator to provision network services and applications with simple, graphical user interfaces

5. Connected Vehicles Technologies

ASTRI is at the forefront of enabling technologies for connected cars, having already conducted live demonstrations of V2X road safety application on the open road at Hong Kong Science Park. In collaboration with HPE, ASTRI is showcasing a V2X Networking System with AI-enabled traffic management, based on 5G Edge computing and V2X technologies. The system can intelligently determine road situations and warnings for smart mobility at network edge. ASTRI will also demonstrate the concept of 5G-enabled Autonomous Vehicles that leverage communications and edge computing capabilities and enhance road safety.

Partnering with key industry players, ASTRI seeks to delivers innovative technologies and applications that improve the sector’s competitiveness and benefit all players. ASTRI continues to develop advanced 4G and 5G technologies to help its partners in driving commercialisation success.

ASTRI has had a strong and fruitful relationship with GSMA – the organiser of MWC – registering successive participation in the global showcase event over the years. Visit the official website https://www.mwcshanghai.com for details of the event.

ASTRI and Fu Huake demonstrate 5G + 8K UHD wireless video streaming with ASTRI’s 5G C-RAN base station at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), in partnership with Fu Huake Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. (a subsidiary of Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. Ltd.), showcased the latest 5G + 8K video streaming demonstration at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China.

The demonstration revealed the latest 3GPP Release 15 5G Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) Base-Station (BS) and User Equipment (UE) emulator solution, connected to a 5G wideband Remote Radio Units (RRU) jointly developed by ASTRI and Fu Huake. The live demonstration accomplished 8K (7,680 × 4,320 pixels) ultra-high definition (UHD) wireless video delivery from 5G C-RAN BS to 5G UE emulator over the 100MHz, 4×4 MIMO wireless channels at the carrier frequency of 3.5GHz.

8K UHD wireless video streaming over cellular network is a new use case for 5G enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB). Each of the 5G eMBB wireless channels could support a 4×4 MIMO and 100MHz bandwidth configuration. Such high rate of cellular data transmission could enable many new wireless UHD visual applications, such as 8K UHD video broadcasting that delivers 16 times as high resolution as HD video broadcasting. In addition, by combining with 8K wireless headsets, it can deliver both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) user experience – enabling ‘virtual’ interactions with the ‘reality’ world.

The 5GC-RAN reference design supports Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), running on general purpose Intel Xeon x86 microprocessors. The fronthaul interfaces are flexibly designed to support Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) or ethernet IP packet interface. This commercial-grade reference design has been verified over the 3GPP release 15 specifications. It supports different 5G usage scenarios such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications(URLLC).

The demonstration took place at ATSRI’s booth (Hall N1 Stand E60) in MWC Shanghai 2018 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China from 27 – 29 Jun2018.

SCC delegation, led by LegCo member Hon Dr Elizabeth Quat, visits ASTRI and experiences its smart city R&D efforts

A delegation of the Hong Kong Smart City Consortium (SCC) visited ASTRI on 25 June 2018 to witness demonstrations of ASTRI’s smart city technology applications and to discuss future collaboration opportunities. Honourable Dr Elizabeth Quat – HKSAR Legislative Council (LegCo) Member as well as Founder and Honorary President of SCC, led the delegation to ASTRI. The delegation also included Dr Winnie Tang – also a founder and Honorary President, Mr Eric Yeung – President of the SCC, and some 20 Committee Chairmen of the SCC. Mr Wong Ming-yam, ASTRI’s Chairman, welcomed the delegation. He was accompanied by Dr MeiKei Ieong – Chief Technology Officer, Dr Justin Chuang – Vice President of Next Generation Network, Dr Lucas Hui – Senior Director of Security and Data Sciences, and other executives and R&D professionals.

The delegation spent time in ATSRI’s Smart City Innovation Centre, Mega Lab and Cyber Range facilities getting briefed on the latest R&D work including advanced display technologies, biometric authentication systems, AI-based chatbot and intelligent Chinese character recognition system, medical imagie analytics platform, next generation capsule endoscopy system, applications of 5G, AI and robotics in manufacturing, cybersecurity, and blockchain for financial services and other sectors.

Hon Dr Quat, a vocal proponent in the Legislative Council for Hong Kong’s innovation and technology development, suggested that “the SCC should seek further collaboration with ASTRIIto pursue joint innovation projects that can add strong practical value to innovation-led industries not just in Hong Kong but across the Southern China Greater Bay Area.” Hon Dr Quat promised to highlight in the LegCo the great potential of collaborative R&D endeavours that ASTRI is pursuing. She also encouraged ASTRI to “leverage every available opportunity in the local, regional and national level to advance I&T”. The delegation members were impressed with the depth and dynamism of ASTRI’s work in smart city development and praised its R&D team’s efforts in making technology work for Hong Kong and its people.

Mr Wong Ming-yam commented that “ASTRI is extremely pleased to receive the delegation from SCC at our facility.” While only a few selected solutions developed by ASTRI were demonstrated during the visit, “there is a much wider and larger pool of applications in ASTRI’s repertoire and also in its R&D pipeline.” He expressed hope that “ASTRI and SCC will collaborate closely in future to benefit the overall smart city and I&T development endeavours.” Mr Wong thanked the SCC delegation members, especially the Hon Dr Quat, for taking the time for this visit and sharing their views and insights with the ASTRI team.

Jane Chen interviews Hugh Chow: attracting international talents to fulfil Hong Kong’s aspirations

As Hong Kong strives to position itself as an international innovation hub, the HKSAR Government has announced unprecedented level of funding support and a series of other initiatives to materialise that vision. China’s Central Government is also steadfast in its support to Hong Kong’s innovation and technology development. The recent announcement that Hong Kong-based researchers will get bigger and easier access to national R&D funding unlocks a new world of potential for the city’s innovation ecosystem. Different players within Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem, including the general public, have overwhelmingly welcomed these new initiatives and policies. Vice President of OneTV Media Global Limited, and ‘Elite One-on-One’ programme’s host, Ms Jane Chen interviewed ATSRI’s CEO Mr Hugh Chow, to discuss how Hong Kong could retain I&T talents.

Mr Chow talked about the excellent foundation in financial and logistics services prevalent in Hong Kong. If we compare the I&T development in Hong Kong and those in the Silicon Valley, Hong Kong is just a starter while Silicon Valley has almost half a century’s experience in developing I&T. However, if Hong Kong can leverage all the positive catalysts and drive growth and momentum in an innovation-led economy, we also have our own unique edge to compete in the race.

Do watch the full interview (available in Chinese only) – video courtesy to OneTV.

Representing Hong Kong, ASTRI witnesses the release of global 5G standards

A plenary meeting of the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) took place in the US city of San Diego on 13 June 2018. As the sole R&D organisation representing Hong Kong, ASTRI’s delegation in that meeting included Dr Justin Chuang – Vice President of Next Generation Network and Dr Eric Tsang – Director of Next Generation Network. The 3GPP plenary meeting was a momentous occasion where standalone standards for 5G NR were agreed upon by more than 600 delegates from the world’s major telecom operators, network, terminals and chipset vendors, internet companies and other vertical industry companies. The standards will act as an industry benchmark for the forthcoming worldwide rollout of 5G services.

The latest standalone 5G NR standards mark a big step ahead for the industry – it effectively means the initial yet crucial phase of technical and operational standardisations are now completed. The industry now enters the stage of commercial deployment. Based on the new 3GPP standards, regulators, operators and manufacturers can now finalise their 5G launch plans – from building the network to sourcing equipments to deploying 5G services for consumers.

The next-generation 5G standard formulated by 3GPP covers multiple technical aspects. With unprecedented speed, 10-20 times as fast as 4G, 5G services will use frequency bands, providing consumers with greater network capacity and faster data and voice experiences. In addition to solving congestion problems in urban networks, 5G can also pave the way for more innovative and revolutionary applications and business potential.

Finalising the new 5G NR standards will benefit the entire industry by setting the ground for practical implementation. Operators and OEMs can now conduct connectivity, performance and compatibility testing of crucial elements like 5G NR chips as well as related applications. 5G services are expected to be commercialised sometime during 2019 with a sizeable international market of globally rolled out commercial networks, high-end devices and appliances and 5G-powered services taking shape in 2020. In addition to common public application services such as transmission of UHD 4K/8K and VR content, 5G will also facilitate a much wider range of applications including connected or driverless cars, and remotely controlled smart homes. Combined with artificial intelligence, drones, deep learning and other new technologies, 5G can indeed unlock a whole new world of smart businesses, smart living and smart cities. Even sectors like healthcare, manufacturing or construction can benefit from 5G, for instance when connected robots help humans to achieve bigger and better things.

As the largest Government-funded R&D institution in Hong Kong, ASTRI plays a key role in developing 5G applications and solutions. ASTRI will leverage the latest 3GPP standards for 5G NR and continue to strengthen its R&D pursuit that leads to successful rollout of 5G and overall Smart City development in Hong Kong.

ASTRI demonstrates intelligent display R&D at CES Asia 2018

From 13 to 15 June 2018, ASTRI participated in CES Asia – one of the largest events of the Asia-Pacific electronics industry – with its latest innovations in intelligent display technologies. Spearheaded by the Optoelectronics Technology Division, the ASTRI team showcased the most recent and exciting developments in its intelligent display R&D at the event which attracted over 40,000 visitors as well as more 500 than exhibiting institutions. Taking place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), the event was a grand showcase of the latest and most advanced solutions ranging from Smart Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Vehicles to Robotics.

ASTRI’s innovations were on display at its booth N3-3033 at the event. The team, led by Mr Kenny Chan, Senior Manager, demonstrated a number of cutting-edge display technologies with sensing solutions relevant for Smart City applications, such as Laser Holographic Projection module and Head-up Display (HUD), In addition, ASTRI’s Head-mount Display (HMD) solution for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications, as well as its award-winning Palm Sensing Biometric Authentication system were also showcased.

CES Asia is the premier event for the consumer electronics industry in this region. The event brings together innovators from across several vertical industries in the Asian marketplace while providing leading Asian and global brands as well as startups a platform to create partnerships, build relationships and reinforce their brands. Industry executives, global buyers, Government officials, market analysts, retailers, media and a large number of other visitors witness the latest products and technologies at this annual event.

ASTRI’s Optoelectronics team pursues the development of intelligent tools and solutions that support Smart City and development as well as Smart Manufacturing in Hong Kong and beyond. Fully aligned with the Hong Kong Government’s Smart City development blueprint and the Greater Bay Area development priorities, ASTRI strives to enhance Hong Kong’s global competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research.