5G: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!

Vol 31: This is a Job for HPUE!

03/23/2023 | 39 pages
Price: $1,295.00

SRG just completed its 31st 5G benchmark study. For this endeavor we collaborated with Accuver Americas and Spirent Communications to conduct an independent benchmark study of a PC 1.5 (power class 29 dBm) versus a PC 2 (26 dBm) capable smartphone.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Our Thanks.  We did this study in collaboration with Accuver Americas (XCAL5 and XCAP) and Spirent Communications (Umetrix Data). SRG is responsible for the data collection and all analysis and commentary provided in this report.

Background.  At 3GPP RAN#78 back in December 2017, a few companies proposed a higher class power amplifier (29 dBm) for certain LTE and 5G mid-band frequencies to offset the coverage challenges associated with the higher frequency TDD spectrum. Five years later, this proposal is finally becoming a commercial reality. We’ve already tested PC 2 versus PC 3 in an earlier Signals Ahead report so it was only natural for us to take on this topic.

Our Methodology.  Testing took place on the T-Mobile network (Band n41) in and around Laguna Beach, CA. We used 2 largely identical Motorola edge (2022) smartphones with the only difference being one phone supported PC 1.5 and one phone supported PC 2. We did downlink and uplink tests, stationary and mobile, as well as individual versus parallel tests. T-Mobile only provided logistical support, including the provisioned phones.

The Results.  As expected, the PC 1.5-enabled smartphone had higher downlink throughput in RF challenged areas, and it provided better coverage, higher uplink MCS values, used more PUSCH resource blocks, and made better use of UL-MIMO and UL-256QAM than the PC 2-enabled smartphone. We quantify the differences in the report.

UL-256QAM and UL-MIMO Revisited.  We remind readers how these two critical features can provide much higher throughput / spectral efficiency than smartphones with only UL-64QAM and a single uplink layer. PC 1.5 enhances how frequently these two features are used. We also compare the Motorola edge (2022) smartphone’s uplink performance with a best-in-class smartphone that only supported UL-256QAM.

UL-MU-MIMO.  Not to confuse readers, but when testing single user UL-MIMO we discovered uplink Mulit-user MIMO in which the network supported up to four smartphones, each capable of concurrently using all possible uplink RBs with certain caveats. We didn’t quantify its benefits, but we plan to do so in an upcoming report.