5G: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!

Vol 46: Up! A Benchmark Study of 3Tx versus 2Tx CPEs (having your cake and eating it too)

12/19/2024 | 22 pages
Price: $595.00

SRG just completed its 46th 5G benchmark study. For this endeavor we collaborated with Accuver Americas and Spirent Communications to conduct a benchmark study of 3Tx CPEs versus 2Tx CPEs and the impact that an extra transmit chain has on uplink performance in a 5G SA network. We used T-Mobile’s network in Irvine, CA where Ericsson is the infrastructure vendor.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Our Thanks. We did this study with the support of Accuver Americas and Spirent Communications. Accuver provided us with its XCAL5 drive test software and XCAP post-processing software. We used its suite of tools for this study. We used the Umetrix Data platform from Spirent Communications to generate the uplink data traffic during our tests. Both companies have been trusted partners with us for nearly two decades. SRG is responsible for all analysis and commentary provided in this report.

The Scope. We did comparative stationary and drive tests using the 3Tx and 2Tx CPEs, as well as a Galaxy S23 smartphone that was limited to a single uplink transmit chain. We also looked at comparative results between UL-MIMO (n41) and UL-CA (n41 and n25) using the 2Tx CPE.

The Results. Perhaps we are stating the blinding obvious, but a 3Tx solution delivers higher uplink throughput than a 2Tx solution, thanks to the inclusion of an additional uplink layer. The differences between UL-MIMO and UL-CA hinged on the RSRP, although it is worth noting that we observed 2 layers on Band n41 to relatively low RSRP values.

More is Coming. There are more features coming to help improve uplink performance, including uplink transmit switching and UL-MIMO (with andwithout high power amplifiers) for FDD bands. TDD + TDD UL-MIMO is another uplink enhancement that we are hoping comes to market.