Partner function: RedCap technology represents a landmark in the evolution of 5G, opening new opportunities for industry and society and ushering in a new era of large-scale IoT.
In the “Cellular IoT Next Steps: RedCap 5G+X Evolution” session at MWC Barcelona 2024, Mr. Ku Wen, Chairman of the Board of the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), expressed his expectations for this technology and given its extensive benefits. He emphasized the importance of jointly promoting the protocol. Toward the digitalization of business.
The technology is defined in 3GPP Release 17 and is a reduced capacity 5G technology that is expected to provide the best balance of cost and performance for key industries.
The use of RedCap 5G is expected to be beneficial for specific consumer segments such as smart cities and wearables, as well as leading to increased IoT adoption across a wide range of enterprise sectors.
Wen, who attended the session, explained that the technology “plays an important role in promoting the development of global industrial digitalization” and was developed specifically for this purpose. He emphasized that this will open up a new path for 5G in industry.
Deployments using this standard have been carried out by carriers in many markets in extensive testing demonstrating its global potential. Companies trialling the technology include South Korea’s SK Telecom, Australia’s Optus and Telstra, Malaysian wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), and US carriers Verizon and AT&T.
China’s progress
Wen pointed out that as the world advances in RedCap, it is China that is “accelerating 5G RedCap technology for product development and industrialization.”
By 2025, the technology is expected to reach cities across the country, with “tens of millions” of connections and key applications in a variety of use cases.
He further added, “Currently, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and other industry chain enterprises are carrying out Red Cap technology research,” and domestic and other enterprises are jointly working towards the two standard platforms. He emphasized that the initiative is being promoted. One focuses on China and the other covers the rest of the world.
Regarding areas that could benefit from the use of this technology, Wen identified already completed pilot projects in energy, industrial, and security applications, and said that in China, the protocol could “facilitate the direct transition from technical standards to industrial applications. “achieved,” he emphasized.
“This is a new 5G technology that solves a problem that will enable industry transformation,” he added. “High product costs and low customer acceptance are the most important factors limiting RedCap’s success, and we need to face them and solve them together.”
collaboration
In order to facilitate the bright future offered by the use of RedCap technology in various “smart” scenarios in social, corporate and consumer segments, experts have highlighted a number of requirements.
The ones cited are: Promote, strengthen, and finalize standards. Cultivate an application innovation ecosystem focused on key priority segments. Foster an ecosystem within the industry to foster further development and adoption.
Regarding the important role of standards, he emphasized that they are “the world’s common language and technical support in an era when everything becomes intelligent.”
“We hope that our colleagues in the field will work together to strengthen the technical capabilities of large-scale IoT scenarios and make them available to the public, in order to advance these in future 3GPP releases. [to prepare] Enjoy a quality information life. ”
As the second area of need, he cited the need to explore “the application of innovations focused on the need for industrial digitization, intelligent governance, and intelligent living.”
Exploring targeted and beneficial uses for 5G RedCap will “promote new models and new formats,” he stressed, going on to discuss potential applications in “wireless sensing, equipment control, and other production links.” Did.
This is expected to be used to create specific solutions for potentially huge segments. These include areas such as industrial and manufacturing sites, the energy and power sector, logistics, and ports, where “networks and other areas drive the digital transformation of industry.”
Outside of large enterprise environments, applications based on this standard are said to be able to “facilitate the evolution and upgrade” of an ecosystem of wearables, smart homes, mobile offices, and other “new devices” in emerging ecosystems. .
There are great expectations for the application of RedCap. Statistics presented at last year’s Global Mobile Broadband Forum showed that the network capacity is 10 times that of 4G, and devices using it consume 20% less power than comparable 4G devices.
It also supports key 5G features such as URLLC, network slicing, edge computing, and 5G LAN.
cultivation
A key element cited by Wen for realizing the vast potential of RedCap technology is fostering an industry ecosystem. He emphasized the possibility of working together as a global industry to promote research and development in this field.
The expert added that there is a need for “industrialization of 5G RedCap chips, models, terminals, networks, equipment and other products.”
These drives leverage various enhancements of 5G and further enhancements of 5G RedCap, including network slicing, precision positioning, 5G LAN, and a rich range of terminal types and product formats to “meet the application needs of various industry scenarios.” It is expected to support integration.
Mr. Wen continued, “Global 5G development has entered a new phase,” adding, “The focus of 5G development will be from accelerating network deployment and expanding coverage to making networks built to realize value more effective.” “The way we use it has changed,” he added.
“We hope that 5G RedCap will stimulate the potential of 5G and create a better future,” the expert concluded.
