Ericsson and China Mobile Test Drones for Handovers

Ericsson and China Mobile are testing a 5G-enabled drone prototype for handovers across multiple sites.

A field trial has been conducted using China Mobile’s network in Wuxi, Jiangsu province between sites that were simultaneously in use by commercial mobile phone users.

Ericsson said potential use cases for this technology include mission-critical applications such as support for emergency services. The project aims is to optimize latency for mission-critical use cases, by dynamically deploying part of a network through distributed cloud close to the radio edge. The drone trial is therefore an important step toward 5G networks in which part of a network can be distributed and dynamically deployed at the cellular edge in order to reduce end-to-end latency, and to serve a range of 5G use cases at the same time.

“With commercial implementation expected from 2020, Ericsson’s 5G research is coming out of the labs and into live test networks. We see tremendous opportunities in 5G, and we are mobilizing the ecosystem and collaborating with industry leaders such as China Mobile to help make 5G a reality,” stated Chris Houghton, Head of Region Northeast Asia, Ericsson.

https://www.ericsson.com/news/160812-ericsson-and-china-mobile-worlds-first-5g-drone_244039854_c