4 November 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that its map-based hybrid channel model has been preliminarily accepted by IMT-2020 technology evaluation report .

Channel model plays fundamental role in both physical layer design and technology evaluation. The inclusion of channel model proposed by ZTE within the ITU IMT-2020 Evaluation Report at ITU-R WP5D#25meeting in Geneva demonstrates the willingness of collaboration among industrial stakeholders to further facilitate the 5G standardization process in term of radio propagation characteristics with ZTE's research and development (R&D) capabilities and technical strength be devoted.

The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), an specialized agency of United Nations , acts vitally in the global management of the radio-frequency spectrum aiming to create the conditions for harmonized development and efficient operation of existing and new radiocommunication systems (5G), taking due account of all parties concerned.

The global IMT-2020 (5G) technology evaluation will commence  in 2018 in accordance with the IMT-2020 (5G) work plan published by the ITU-R. Before the evaluation, the ITU-R needs to define key technical indexes and determine evaluation methodology. Channel model identification is essential to the determination of the evaluation methodology and directly affects the evaluation results and the ITU-R's acceptance of new 5G air interface technologies in the future.

ZTE has engaged in various research activities on channel modeling, i.e. collaboration with universities, extensive measurement campaigns and optimization of ray-tracing tools. The digital-map-based hybrid channel model preliminarily accepted by ITU-R WP 5D was developed by ZTE taking into account the 5G requirements of  large capacity, high density and high frequency in conjunction with those of key application scenarios. In this model, wireless channel propagation is emulated based on 3D-digital map and physical electromagnetic propagation theories. Both the ray-tracing-based deterministic and measurement-based statistical modelling methodologies are used to better reflect the electromagnetic propagation features in terms of specular and diffuse components in the actual propagation environments. This hybrid channel model supports large bandwidth and large arrays and provides the consistency requirements between high and low frequency domains, spatial consistency and dual mobility. It can effectively support the evaluation and simulation of 5G air interface technologies.

Certain amount of channel model proposals from 11 different countries were submitted to WP5D#25. It is concluded that hybrid channel model proposed by ZTE was accepted as one of reference models in IMT-2020 Evolution Report after going through lengthy and constructive discussions. The hybrid channel model recognised by China IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group as well as adopted by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), has been recommended by China to the ITU-R IMT-2020 Evaluation Report.

Mr. Xu Huijun, CTO of ZTE Corporation, said: "I really appreciate the excellent collaboration and good alignment among industrial players as well as the outstanding work done by my colleagues on this channel modelling aspect. As an old Chinese saying goes: if you want to go fast, walk alone; and if you want to go far, walk together. We are looking forward to partner with players from across the industry to promote the 5G standardisation process and build a bright future for globally harmonized 5G standards."

ZTE is a major contributor and participant in the research of global 5G technologies and standards. The company actively participates in the discussions for establishing 5G standards and has now joined more than 40 standardisation organisations, unions and forums. It is a member of many international standard organisations and industrial unions including the ITU, 3GPP, IEEE, NGMN and 5GMF.