"1+2+3" Framework for 5G-Advanced Evolution

Since 5G-Advanced has become a consensus, it is necessary for the industry to define its key features, deployment strategies, key R&D directions, and application practices based on the requirements of operators, vertical industries, and society.

As a key player in the 5G industry, ZTE has invested a lot of resources in exploring 5G-Advanced. In 2021, we proposed the "1+2+3" framework for 5G-Advanced evolution. "1" represents the foundation, namely chipset technology, algorithm, and architecture, "2" represents the double-chain genes, namely intelligence and security, and "3" represents three directions, namely, performance enhancement, efficiency improvement, and boundary extension. With this new framework，we can release the unlimited potential of 5G and continuously empower new business types, new scenes and new fields.

Integrate AI into 5G

The future 5G network will be a system with intrinsic AI capabilities. AI will be integrated into the whole system design in the standard formulation phase, and intelligence will be injected into the core network, access network, and physical layer. Intelligence and computing power are inseparable. The combination of intelligence and computing power has become an important engine for the current network development, and also an important capability base for 5G-Advanced and 6G networks in the future.

ZTE has explored a wireless intelligent framework. First, wireless intelligence is built on the intelligent computing base, including the three elements of data, algorithm and computing power. Second, the base capabilities can be flexibly orchestrated to incubate diversified intelligent applications. Finally, the digital twins of wireless networks are built in parallel to existing physical networks to achieve real-time interactions between virtual and physical worlds and closed-loop systems for efficient self-optimization of various intelligent applications.

In terms of intelligent orchestration, ZTE launched the industry's first network resources orchestration solution Radio Composer powered by the native AI at base stations in 2021. It improves user experience by enabling the shift from network-centric to user-centric. In 2022, Radio Composer evolved to the 2.0 stage. With the integration of intent-driven technology, Radio Composer 2.0 allows the network to achieve "what you expect is what you get".

ZTE's computing power orchestration breaks the computing power limitation of a single site through cross-site computing power sharing. In June 2022, China Mobile Group Research Institute, China Mobile Zhejiang Branch and ZTE jointly completed the first cross-base station computing power orchestration in Jiaxing. In the scenario of unbalanced network load, the computing power can be orchestrated among base station clusters, increasing the computing power of base stations in busy hours by 14%.

As for digital twins, ZTE has built an end-to-end high-fidelity digital twin system for wireless networks in the lab. Through servers and ultra-computing platforms, ZTE has built twins of UEs, channels, wireless networks, transmission networks, and core networks. Based on this system, we simulated typical service flows of commercial terminals, and built a video service experience evaluation model with the difference between the evaluation value and the actual value being only 0.1.

Cool 5G Technologies

• Performance Enhancement

5G-Advanced aims to bring a 10-fold increase in both the network capacity and the number of connections. This requires wider spectrum, more coordinated networking and more efficient air interface.

To improve the throughput, ZTE has launched some new solutions and one of them is the sub-band full-duplex (SBFD). ZTE has completed the industry's first prototype and function verification of SBFD. The SBFD technology divides uplink sub-bands and downlink sub-bands in the TDD single-carrier frequency domain to implement full-duplex on the base station side and enable simultaneous signal transmission and reception with a single-carrier bandwidth of 100 MHz. This is a breakthrough innovation of the TDD spectrum on the air interface. The SBFD technology may further support flexible cross-sub-band scheduling as required, so as to implement large uplink and low-latency services at the same time. For conventional terminals, based on the configuration of a flexible frame structure, it can be compatible with SBFD while still operating in the TDD half-duplex mode. In August 2022, ZTE's sub-band full-duplex prototype achieved a large uplink rate of 1.4 Gbps and an ultra-low end-to-end latency of less than 4 ms over a single 100 MHz carrier in the laboratory environment, which will better support applications that require both high bandwidth uplink and low latency in 2B scenarios.

To increase the number of connections, ZTE has conducted deep research into the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology, which is believed to be one of the key technologies for 5G-Advanced and future wireless network evolution. In the third quarter of 2022, ZTE and China Mobile Research Institute completed the industry's first prototype trial of dynamic RIS technology. In addition, ZTE has also studied non-terrestrial network (NTN), a supplement of terrestrial network (TN). At the end of August 2022, ZTE, together with China Mobile and other industrial partners, showcased the world's first 5G NTN field trial at the 5G-Advanced Industry Development Summit held in Beijing. The trial implemented end-to-end link interconnection among terminals, satellites, terrestrial gateways, base stations, core networks and servers.

• Efficiency Improvement

The autonomous network (AN) is considered as a key capability to improve O&M efficiency. ZTE has launched an intelligent network solution uSmart-RNIA to reduce O&M cost and improve efficiency for operators. At present, it can support operators' network autonomy capability to evolve from Level 3 to Level 4. At the same time, we are exploring the evolution to L5, covering the intent-driven technology and digital twins as mentioned before.

• Energy Efficiency

ZTE proposes to pursue the "perfect Bit/Watt curve". This includes the AAU hibernation mode, a new shutdown mechanism that can help AAU reach less than 5W power consumption when there is no traffic. Meanwhile, ZTE continues to evolve its PowerPilot pro solution, which adds the base station intelligence on the basis of the platform intelligence to break the non-real-time bottleneck of current energy-saving strategies. Base stations can process massive user measurement data in real time and provide real-time insights into user conditions in the network, and based on the accurate prediction of user behavior and network load, the intelligent base stations can formulate a near-real-time energy-saving policy to maximize the shutdown and minimize the wake-up, thus building a green network.

Value of 5G Evolution

The value of 5G evolution does not lie in the technology itself but in its external empowerment and value presentation.

One of the more important missions of 5G is to change the industry. Currently, the 5G+ industry has achieved a "zero to one" breakthrough, and some industries have seen their application solutions replicated at scale. However, these are just a tip of the 5G iceberg. To drive 5G industry applications, we have developed a series of products covering the cloud, edge, and device. In ZTE's Binjiang factory, the PLC controller is cloudified and flexibly deployed on the distributed computing system of 5G computing power base stations and edge gateways as required to integrate the 5G network and industrial control network. In the future, we will continue to study and deepen our efforts in the operation technology (OT) domain to realize the industrial value of 5G.

For consumer businesses, the combination of 5G and XR is expected to open the door to the Metaverse. In the future, XR services will become more and more popular among individual users, and also be leveraged for manufacturing, medical care and flight training. ZTE has also made great efforts in the research and deployment of XR services.

In the future, we will also explore more new technologies and new fields to maximize the potential of 5G. For example, the integrated sensing, computation, control and communication system is promising. The base stations are equipped with extra sensing capability besides the basic communication capability, and these capabilities, when combined with the computing power and control, allow the incubation of various new applications and have great potential in the fields like low-altitude security and vehicle-road collaboration.

In the follow-up 5G and 5G-Advanced evolution, ZTE will promote the continuous expansion of business boundaries and unlock infinite possibilities of digital intelligent society through enabling new consumer experiences and new industrial upgrades.