NEC announced the availability of its new Smart Wireless Transport Network (Smart WTN) solution, designed to equip operators to address bottlenecks in mobile backhaul for 5G networks by providing a high capacity pipe for dynamic network optimisation.
NEC’s Smart WTN solution combines NEC’s iPASOLINK EX, a compact radio communication system that offers wireless transmission capacity of up to 10 Gbit/s in the E-band range, with a Backhaul Resource Manager (BRM) SDN controller that allows dynamic control of both wired and wireless networks. The solutions also features NEC’s proven artificial intelligence (AI) technology, NEC the WISE.
The integrated solution is designed to enable migration for projects ranging from small first-time deployments to large-scale deployments utilising AI.
NEC noted that to accommodate higher speed communications and IoT will require the adoption of small cells and higher capacity mobile backhaul to connect cell sites, in addition to maintaining the existing macro cells. The new Smart WTN solution is designed to enable flexible network build-out, as well as providing traffic and defect predictions and adaptability to environmental and behavioural changes to allow operators to dynamically modify operations for improved efficiency and reduced power consumption.
NEC announced in July 2016 that it would brand its line of AI technologies as NEC the WISE. NEC the WISE is a portfolio of AI technologies developed by NEC to help address complex issues facing society. Separately, NEC announced it had completed joint verification trials with NTT DOCOMO utilising massive MIMO technology for 5G base stations. The trials were conducted in central Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, and involved NEC’s massive-element Active Antenna System (AAS) supporting the low-SHF band (3 to 6 GHz). The trials employed the low-SHF band-compatible AAS in the base station for both outdoor and indoor environments.
