November US Silicon Valley Future Telecom Summit Demo
Japan NTT & SoftBank "Great Help for 6G Preparation"
Samsung Electronics is accelerating technology development by demonstrating artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN) technology in Silicon Valley, USA. The company plans to embed AI technology into RAN to maximize communication efficiency and safety. Major global telecom operators also expect Samsung Electronics' technology to not only promote the commercialization of AI-RAN but also contribute to the commercialization of AI-based 6th generation mobile communications (6G).
On the 31st, Samsung Electronics announced through its 'Newsroom' that it demonstrated AI-RAN technology with industry partners at the Future Communications Summit in Silicon Valley last month. At the summit, Samsung showcased AI-RAN technology that enhances base station data throughput, communication range, and energy efficiency.
Samsung Electronics stated that it is the first in the industry to directly demonstrate AI technology verification (PoC) results across the entire RAN to telecom operators. It suggested that the convergence of telecommunications and AI has the potential to significantly improve communication performance, user experience, and energy efficiency in future communication networks.
Samsung plans to embed AI technology throughout the RAN, from the radio unit and digital unit of communication systems to system operations. This is because the future communications market requires not only improved data transmission speeds but also enhanced user experience and energy efficiency to increase sustainability.
Samsung applied AI technology to improve the accuracy of wireless channel state estimation, which is the data transmission path between base stations and mobile phones. As a result, both downlink data throughput from base stations to mobile phones and uplink data throughput from mobile phones to base stations showed significant improvements compared to 5th generation mobile communications (5G) RAN. Additionally, based on AI, power consumption was efficiently controlled according to the transmission signal strength, resulting in greater energy savings compared to existing 5G RAN.
Major operators praised the technology. Takehiro Nakamura, NTT Docomo’s head of standardization, said, "The AI-RAN demonstration showed meaningful improvements over existing solutions and was very impressive. I believe Samsung Electronics’ technology will promote the commercialization of AI-RAN and greatly aid preparations for 6G." Ryuji Wakikawa, SoftBank’s director and head of advanced technology research, said, "Samsung Electronics’ AI technology will significantly enhance uplink design and communication stability in both uplink and downlink. We have high expectations for the future commercialization of AI-based 6G."
Samsung Electronics’ global partners shared their vision for the future of wireless communications. In particular, NVIDIA expressed expectations for collaboration with Samsung, stating that wireless networks will be embedded with AI. Samsung Electronics and NVIDIA are founding members of the 'AI-RAN Alliance,' launched at the 'Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024' held in Barcelona, Spain, last February. Ronnie Basista, NVIDIA’s executive director of the communications division, said, "Through cooperation with Samsung Electronics, NVIDIA’s AI platform-based infrastructure is showing significant performance improvements."
Samsung Electronics emphasized that it plans to lead the realization of global AI-RAN based on the successful demonstration at the Silicon Valley summit. A Samsung Electronics official said, "The successful AI-RAN demonstration at the Silicon Valley summit marks an important starting point for industry collaboration to introduce AI-embedded communication technology into future RAN. Samsung Electronics will continue to collaborate with partners within the ecosystem to enhance future communication user experiences and lead the realization of AI-RAN through industry bodies such as the AI-RAN Alliance."
Charlie Jang, head of the 6G research team at Samsung Research’s Next Generation Communications Research Center (executive director), said, "We are grateful to our ecosystem partners cooperating for AI-based wireless communication innovation. Samsung Electronics will continue to collaborate with partners to lead innovation for the realization of AI-RAN."
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