Reshaping the future technology landscape with all-band AI beamforming

Vice President of ZTE explains how combining AI with M-MIMO technology is leading to multiple gains for operators

Partner Content Massive multiple-input multiple-output (M-MIMO) technology has long been recognised as a cornerstone of 5G and other future networks, characterised by the deployment of a large number of antennas at a base station to serve many users simultaneously through beamforming.

Reflecting its potential, the worldwide value of the M-MIMO market is set to grow over the next decade from $5 billion to $115 billion, according to a report published by Global Market Insights. And its prospects are being enhanced by the rapid developments in AI.

ZTE for one has so far reported significant promise from the M-MIMO portfolio it has integrated with AI, further boosting the service by enabling it across an operator's entire operational spectrum, from sub-1GHz frequencies to high-frequency millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum. It also includes the ability for tri-band deployments.

Big gains

The vendor reports that the addition of AI capabilities lead to a 30% capacity gain for 5G and a 20% improvement in spectral efficiency when it comes to 4G FDD M-MIMO (FMM). At the same time, AI algorithms automate real-time beam and network management, cutting the need for expensive manual intervention and troubleshooting, and thus slashing operational costs.

"ZTE's all-band AI M-MIMO suite fundamentally reshapes the mobile industry's economic model for operators by driving simultaneous massive improvements in capex, opex and future revenue potential," says Shen Jianda, vice president of ZTE. "It is engineered to safeguard and significantly enhance an operator's existing network assets, ensuring that their prior investments yield maximum long-term value."

According to ZTE, the uniqueness of its all-band AI M-MIMO portfolio stems from three simultaneous industry-defining breakthroughs that allow systems to transition from fragmented to unified, intelligent and green infrastructure.

Firstly, ZTE says the portfolio provides unprecedented integration of hardware, supporting 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and narrowband IoT in a single active antenna unit (AAU) and thus simplifying deployment.

Secondly, a single plug-in AI board allows unified beamforming across the entire operational spectrum rather than per-band optimisation, significantly reducing complexity and boosting capacity with the aid of advanced algorithms.

Thirdly, the all-band AI M-MIMO suite enables massive energy reductions of 30 to 50%, supporting sustainability and the circular economy through advanced AI-driven power features. During low-traffic periods, an intelligent hibernation feature cuts power use to less than 5W, which ZTE estimates can save operators more than 75 million kWh annually across 300,000 deployments.

Intelligent foundation

These key benefits enable operators to harness more capacity and performance from their spectrum, estimated by ZTE at up to double in low bands and more than quadruple in mid bands. This enhancement delivers a superior quality of experience, allowing operators to reduce churn and increase ARPU, while providing an intelligent foundation to help them rapidly monetise lucrative 5G-Advanced (5G-A) powered services such as intensive live-streaming, extended reality and the low-altitude economy.

Furthermore, the portfolio minimises future "rip and replace" hardware swap-outs partly through the ability of services to work across multiple spectrum bands, future-proofing M-MIMO radio units by allowing software-only upgrades and maximising return on investment of previous deployments.

A further advantage of the AI M-MIMO Suite is that it is applicable to multiple markets, having been purpose-built for ubiquitous global deployment – again, due to its flexibility across many frequencies. This has been shown by the tangible success that ZTE has already seen in deploying M-MIMO and AI-enhanced services in widely varied environments worldwide.

For example, the company's FMM service improved user throughput by 1.8 times in collaboration with CelcomDigi Malaysia, with AI-enhanced features further boosting results. Meanwhile, M-MIMO was widely deployed this year at Latin America's largest annual music festival, Lollapalooza, supporting an event attended by 200,000 people.

Adaptable tech

In total, ZTE has shipped millions of M-MIMO AAUs globally to date, including more than 50,000 multi-band units. It has key partnerships with operators including Orange, WindTre, AIS and MTN, showing the adaptability of the technology to the needs of many different operators in diverse markets. The vendor also has a wide-scale deployment of tri-band FMM in Central Asia.

Evidence of the flexibility and efficiency of these services, along with the revenue potential, savings in capex and opex, and improvements in green credentials that operators can achieve by using them show their appeal. These factors all provide a draw for those players looking to innovate and secure their pathway forward for the long term.

For these reasons, Shen believes that the portfolio is set to continue helping drive performance gains for operators worldwide. "The all-band AI M-MIMO suite provides a future-proof, robust foundation that accelerates the global expansion of the 5G and 5G-A connected economy by guaranteeing consistently high performance and seamless massive connectivity."

Contributed by ZTE.