📋 Tender Overview
NEC Corporation and Analog Devices Inc. ADI announced today that they have teamed up to design a 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit for Rakuten Mobile. The radio unit adopts ADIs fourth-generation wideband RF transceiver solution to achieve high precision Massive MIMO and possesses a 5G open vRAN virtual RAN interface corresponding to Rakuten Mobiles end-to-end fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network. It delivers large capacity transmission with high efficiency by using 3.7GHz frequency Massive MIMO1 and digital beamforming technology.2 The cloud-native virtual network heralds a major shift in how communications providers can offer high-speed internet access worldwide at significantly lower costs made possible without the maintenance upkeep repair and labor costs associated with the physical infrastructure that hinders conventional networks. NEC has already started shipping the 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit to Rakuten Mobile.ADIs fourth-generation wideband RF transceiver integrates quad channel transmitters receivers and Digital Pre-Distortion DPD in a single chip. The radio is fully software reconfigurable and covers all sub-6GHz 5G frequency bands simplifying radio designs.ADIs RF transceiver is expertly designed to support wireless applications such as Massive MIMO and small cell systems simplifying system design reducing size and weight and minimizing power consumption said Nozomu Watanabe Senior Vice President at NEC. Virtualization is a dependable and cost-efficient approach and the worlds leading telecom providers are pursuing it as the next evolution of communications. ADIs RF equipment allows us to provide the connectivity required to build an architecture that supports 5G full-spectrum systems.NECs 5G equipment utilizes highly accurate digital beamforming for efficient high-capacity transmission. The system also features seamless installation achieved through circuit integration.The new wave of 5G-based network connectivity is defined by flexibility said Greg Henderson Senior Vice President at Analog Devices. By working with NEC to drive the first Massive MIMO installation for Rakuten Mobile were laying the groundwork to propel 5G connectivity forward. The ecosystem is incredibly intricate and complex but the primary goal is for all parties to work seamlessly together to inspire efficiencies across the board cost time and capital equipment. These are the pieces that will help us move to the next step of a truly virtualized network.