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Broadband ISP and mobile operator Vodafone have announced that they’ve “successfully completed tests of a major 5G software enhancement” with Nokia, Qualcomm Technologies and Xiaomi. The change, once deployed, promises to boost data (mobile broadband) throughput for users by nearly 25%.
The test, which involved a Xiaomi 15 Ultra Smartphone equipped with the Snapdragon® 8 Elite Mobile Platform (chipset) and Nokia’s latest Habrok 64 massive MIMO radios, essentially increased the use of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) on their network from 256 to 1024.
The use of QAM is quite common in wireless networks and can be thought of as a way of getting greater efficiency out of existing radio spectrum. The method involves sending data by changing (modulating) two things about the signal – Amplitude (strength) and Phase (timing). Put another way, QAM-256 allows the use of 256 combinations (Symbols) of amplitude and phase, thus 1024 is a lot more complex but also allows you to send more bits of data.
In this case, Vodafone’s engineers and their partners managed to achieve download speeds of up to 1.7 Gigabits per second (Gbps) over 500 metres of distance on 3.5GHz spectrum (we assume they mean the band, rather than total spectrum frequency) – this occurred at their Ciudad Real centre in Spain. But the operator didn’t provide both the before and after figures together, although from the headline we assume they got 25% extra speed.
In this case, the technology aims to save energy by increasing data throughput and signal efficiency without the need for additional equipment at the mobile base station.
Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer of Vodafone, said:
“We are looking at new ways to extract greater performance from our 5G networks to enhance the customer experience. Securing widespread support for this latest technology at the network level and within the latest smartphones will help us achieve that aim.”
Mark Atkinson, Senior VP and Head of Radio Access Networks at Nokia, said:
“This successful trial with Vodafone demonstrates the benefits of high-order modulation technology in delivering fast speeds with reduced capacity. Nokia is at the forefront of these advanced technologies that enable premium performance, support new enterprise and consumer services and deliver superior user experiences.”
Vodafone notes that traffic volumes on their UK network have grown 25-fold over the past ten years. Additionally, approximately 90% of all mobile data traffic across Europe uses the network downlink channel to users’ smartphones. Adopting 1024 QAM will naturally help to manage that rising demand.
The network operator said they “anticipate” that customers will be able to fully benefit from this 5G enhancement in the “near future“, particularly once more device manufacturers incorporate the technology into their products/chipsets.