AT&T Labs establishes industry-first 5G SA uplink 2-CA data connection in the U.S. to improve upload speeds, with additional speeds and other upgrades under consideration
AT&T is building tomorrow’s wireless networks. Connecting people to greater potential. As engineers, we design, build, test, and iterate to help customers get the most out of 5G connectivity and developers to build and deploy the next generation of apps and services.
A key part of this evolution is the critical transition phase we are entering in the expansion from 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) to 5G Standalone (SA).
How does standalone take 5G to the next level? Unlike 5G NSA, which still relies on 4G LTE cores, 5G SA uses dedicated 5G cores, unlocking features such as faster upload speeds, ultra-low latency, ultra-high reliability, and edge capabilities. This technology is key to business opportunities such as next-generation connected cars.
We have said we plan to deploy standalone 5G as soon as the ecosystem is ready, and AT&T is moving forward to prepare the SA ecosystem. As we continue to move from R&D to deployment, businesses and developers will be among the first to take advantage of the new technology enabled by standalone 5G.
Uplink: Where challenges and opportunities meet
This new connected era is about not only consuming more content, but also generating more content than ever before. Demand for uplink capacity and speed continues to increase, at approximately 30% annually for AT&T’s mobility network.
From large file uploads to family video calls, live streaming, cloud gaming, and augmented reality applications, networks are facing unprecedented upstream traffic demands. Our latest network innovations are complex, but all aimed at meeting this new demand.
Just a few weeks ago we US’s first 5G SA uplink 2-carrier aggregation data call Carrier aggregation (CA) means combining or “aggregating” different frequency bands to provide more bandwidth and capacity. This means faster uplink transmission speeds. Think of this as adding lanes to a network traffic highway.
To date, no company in the US market has successfully integrated two carriers for 5G SA uplinks. This is part of our ongoing efforts to provide greater reliability to our customers.
Testing was conducted in our lab using Nokia’s 5G AirScale portfolio and MediaTek’s 5G M80 mobile test platform. We have aggregated the low band n5 and mid band n77 spectra. Compared to low-band n5 alone, integrating 40MHz of low-band n5 and mid-band n77 increased uplink throughput by 100%. We took it a step further and aggregated 100MHz of n77 to achieve a 250% increase. The bottom line? We achieved impressive upload speeds of over 70 Mbps with the n5 using the 40MHz n77 and over 120 Mbps with the n5 using the 100MHz n77.
Carrier aggregation is like adding more lanes to a highway, but adding more vehicles to carry traffic is another way to manage surging uplink demand. this is, 2-layer uplink MIMO Mid-band n77 time division duplex (TDD). MIMO combines signals and data streams from multiple antennas (“vehicles”) to improve signal quality and data rates. This feature not only increases uplink throughput, but also increases cell capacity and spectral efficiency.
Network design and device preparation go hand in hand
While we continue to work on increasing our uplink coverage, we’re not forgetting the downlink either. Enhanced downlink and uplink carrier aggregation capabilities work together to deliver the 5G SA performance required by today’s technology.
Last fall we completed a project. 5G SA 4 Component Carrier Downlink Combine calls between two FDD carriers and two TDD carriers. These features allow AT&T devices to aggregate mid-band n77s in the C-band and 3.45 GHz spectrum range. Compared to the low-band and mmWave spectrum, mid-band n77 provides a better balance between coverage and speed.This is: 5G SA 3 Component Carrier Downlink Function It was introduced last year in 2022 AT&T flagship devices that combine one frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier with two TDD carriers.
In the coming months, AT&T will also 5G New Radio Dual Connectivity (NR-DC), integrating low-band and mid-band spectrum with high-band mmWave spectrum for 5G SA. In our lab, we achieved downlink throughput speeds of up to 5.3 Gbps and uplink throughput speeds of up to 670 Mbps for 5G NR-DC. This technology helps deliver high-speed mobile broadband for both downlink and uplink in stadiums, airports, and other high-density venues.
The 5G SA ecosystem is rapidly evolving, introducing new technologies and features to provide a differentiated experience. Here are some features planned for 5G SA.
- Specialized Network Services – Think network slicing, precise location, private routing, and more to customize network solutions to meet specific user requirements.
- Non-terrestrial network solutions to supplement coverage in remote areas.and
- 5G (RedCap) with reduced functionality for a new generation of 5G-enabled wearables, industrial IoT or wireless sensors, and other small form factor consumer devices.
AT&T is dedicated to being the best connectivity provider. The 5G SA ecosystem is rapidly evolving, introducing new technologies and capabilities to establish the foundation for next-generation applications and services.
