RedCap is being prepped for real-world deployments. What efficiency can it obtain?
Growth and testing of 5G New Radio Diminished Functionality (RedCap) is choosing up steam, with latest bulletins from Qualcomm in addition to a slew of testing bulletins up to now few months from main carriers around the globe.
RedCap is a 5G Standalone expertise, bringing IoT and lower-performance units into the 5G SA world. However decrease efficiency doesn’t imply “low” efficiency because it has been understood within the NB-IoT, LPWA world. RedCap’s speeds, latency and spectrum use are largely on-par with superior LTE capabilities. Certainly, it’s seen because the 5G inheritor to LTE Cat-4 by way of:
-Speeds of tens to lots of of Mbps. This maps very neatly to LTE Cat-4, wherein information charges vary as much as 50 Mbps in uplink and as much as 150 Mbps within the downlink.
-Easier antenna design, with assist for one transmit antenna and one or two obtain antennas.
-Compact design with improved battery life, in comparison with different fully-equipped 5G NR choices.
-Spectrum assist in low-mid (Frequency Vary 1) utilizing a 20-megahertz channel and excessive (Frequency Vary 2) bands, utilizing 100 megahertz of spectrum. The preliminary RedCap chips and units are anticipated to deal with FR1.
Ericsson, which is anticipated to commercially launch its RedCap software program this month, summarizes the options of RedCap within the following chart.
So how does this map to expectations of real-world efficiency? Whereas the theoretical peak of RedCap within the downlink has been anticipated to be proper round 150 Mbps, there are indications that RedCap chipsets are being refined to enhance, quite than cut back, upon precise efficiency because the expertise will get nearer to launch. Think about, for instance, module maker Fibocom’s specification sheets for its RedCap choices introduced over the course of this yr. When Fibocom introduced its first RedCap FG 1322-NA module in Could, it laid out the pace specs as as much as 220 Mbps within the downlink and as much as 100 Mbps within the uplink. By the point the corporate introduced a second module, the FG131, the marketed speeds crept even a bit greater, with Fibocom saying that each RedCap modules might assist hastens as much as 226 Mbps within the downlink and as much as 120 Mbps within the uplink in 5G SA networks.
Equally, RedCap testing by Huawei a yr in the past, in November 2022, achieved charges of 142 Mbps within the downlink and 35 Mbps within the uplink in mid-band TDD spectrum. Comparatively, testing by Ericsson in partnership with MediaTek carried out within the fall of this yr yielded an FDD information name with throughput of 220 Mbps within the downlink and 74 Mbps within the uplink. In TDD spectrum, Ericsson and MediaTek recorded downlink speeds of 153 Mbps and uplink speeds of 13.5 Mbps.
In search of extra insights on 5G RedCap as a expertise, potential use instances and its strategic function within the 5G ecosystem? Try the editorial webinar obtainable on-demand, that includes Counterpoint Analysis, Fibocom and Viavi Options—and maintain a watch out for our upcoming particular report!
