The tests are said to have proved that the technology offers superior coverage, including improved indoor reception, over existing intelligent antennas.
The base station utilises ZTE’s vector processor SOC chipset, and is said to bring 3D/Massive MIMO, a key technology for 5G, closer to commercial reality.
By using multi-antenna technology, 3D/massive MIMO is said to improve wireless spectrum efficiency exponentially, as well as increase network coverage and system capacity, in order to help telecoms operators maximise the use of existing site locations and spectrum resources.
“As the number of antennas is ten times more, 3D/massive MIMO had appeared to be a distant pipe-dream. However, the test indicates that we are taking a big step forward to realising the new technology using 4G handsets,” said Dr Xiang Jiying, CTO of ZTE’s wireless division.
“This is a result of a number of innovations, and is in line with the pre-5G concept previously proposed by ZTE. We will continue to deliver pre-5G features to offer 5G-like experience before 5G standardisation.”
