NEWS

2020-08-24Back

AI-assisted management of private 5G network construction – ITRI receives Small Cell Forum Award again

Taiwan's 5G small cell smart management technology has clinched an international award! IRTI's Athena SON – RAN Planning & Optimization Service recently received the honor of Judges’Choice of the SCF Awards 2020 at the Small Cell Forum (SCF). This is the second time that the ITRI's small cell smart management technology has won the Judges’Choice of the SCF Awards. The key to winning the award lies in providing the best solution for small cell network construction and optimization through AI, helping network communication equipment suppliers and systems integrators to come up with the optimal solution when building a private network in terms of the quantity, location of small cells and radio frequencies. Furthermore, it can automatically optimize coverage for the private network. The technology is currently being applied in conjunction with Alpha Networks.

SCF is an international promoting small cell application. Every year, it selects those that have made contributions to the global small cell industry in terms of technical innovation, breakthrough, or industry promotion and presents them with the SCF Awards, which is divided into categories such as Excellence in Commercial Deployment, Outstanding Innovation in Small Cell Technology or Architecture, and the Judges’ Choice. The winners of previous awards include renowned international network communication equipment manufacturers such as AT&T, Verizon, SoftBank, Nokia, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Commscope.

According to Tzi-Cker Chiueh, General Director of Information and Communications Research Laboratories, 5G technology has commenced commercial application this year. This year's SCF Awards 2020 sees a record-breaking number of participants, significantly increasing the level of competition, hence the fact that ITRI's Athena SON – RAN Planning & Optimization Service can stand out from other entries is a remarkable feat, demonstrating Taiwan's small cell smart technology can compete with the best in the international community. He emphasized that, with support from the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), ITRI can continue refining the small cell smart management technology. From basic cell management, network optimization, to proactively tracking the users' location to provide them with dynamic network optimization service, the technology's application has been expanded to assisting network communication equipment manufacturers and private network integrators to build networks accurately, in turn facilitating the implementation of private 5G networks in the domestic industries such as smart healthcare, smart manufacturing, smart transportation, and smart business. As a result, accurate planning and smart optimization of private 5G networks will be materialized to minimize the cost of manpower and time during the private network building and maintenance process.

According to Alpha Networks General Manager Lin Yu-Chin, after winning the SCF Awards for the first time together with ITRI in 2018, it is an honor to receive the award again with ITRI this year. Alpha Networks' small cell R&D dates back to the 3G era, hence the company has accrued a great deal of valuable experience, particularly in the field of small cell L1 PHY (Port Physical Layer), beamforming key technology development, as well as high-speed signal integration and processing, illustrating core competitiveness, ultimately achieving high transmission speed, volume, coverage, and efficiency for the 5G network. Alpha Networks is vigorously supporting the government's 5G policy, and has engaged in close collaborations with ITRI on numerous projects over the long run. Recent examples of 5G experimental projects include the public utilities smart energy IoT, Tri-Service General Hospital smart healthcare, and smart exhibition.

The construction and maintenance of traditional small cell networks require experienced engineers for planning, optimization, monitoring, and maintenance, making them time-consuming and expensive to operate. For instance, to satisfy client demand in coverage and performance, multiple site visits, scenario planning, and simulations are needed to come up with a preliminary plan. After the cells are installed, optimization and fine-tuning based on environmental signal measurements and cell parameter configurations are required to attain the optimal setup. If the user's needs are changed, everything will have to start over again. ITRI's Athena SON – RAN Planning & Optimization Service reduces the period of private network construction from days or weeks to a matter of hours, where the optimal network planning recommendation can be determined quickly to fine-tune the small cell's network setup in a flexible manner, thereby catering to the needs of the users more closely.

About Small Cell Forum (SCF)

This is the world's largest international organization dedicated to the promotion of small cell technology development, standards formulation, interoperability testing, application, and vertical private network application. The participants include major international telecommunication operators, equipment manufacturers, testing equipment suppliers, systems integrators, and vertical private network operators. Every year, SCF chooses those that have made contributions to the global small cell industry in terms of technical innovation, breakthrough, or industry promotion and presents them with the SCF Awards. Winners of this prestigious annual award of the global mobile communication industry include AT&T, Verizon, SoftBank, Nokia, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Commscope. The SCF awards are independently judged by 10 international analysts, professional journalists, and network communication experts.

 

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