SoftBank conducts world’s first outdoor test with 20 5G cells on a single server featuring the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip

TOKYO, November 13, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(TOKYO:9434, "SoftBank") announced it developed 5G L1* software based on the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform, delivering the high stability and high performance essential for a carrier-grade RAN through parallel signal processing and the optimization of task initiation timing. With this newly developed L1 software, carrier-grade stability has been achieved. In addition to realizing high stability, SoftBank will develop L1 software that can achieve maximized RAN capacity and reduced power consumption.

*L1: "Physical Layer (Layer 1)" of the OSI reference model in vRAN software architecture.

SoftBank constructed the world’s first* high-quality 5G vRAN (virtual Radio Access Network) outdoor testing environment, utilizing its newly developed L1 software running on the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip platform. NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip architecture brings together the accelerated performance of the NVIDIA Hopper architecture with the versatility of the Arm? Neoverse? V2 - based NVIDIA Grace CPU in a single superchip.

*World's first: Implementation of an outdoor testing environment enabling baseband processing of up to 4-layer MIMO and 20 cells on a 100MHz bandwidth on a single server featuring the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip. Based on confirmation by NVIDIA as of November 13, 2024.

Overview of AI-RAN Outdoor Test

SoftBank built the world’s first outdoor testing environment that enables the baseband processing of 20 5G cells with a bandwidth of 100 MHz on a single server featuring the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The 4.9 GHz frequency band was used for this outdoor test and a maximum communication capacity of approximately 1.3 Gbps per cell through a maximum of 4-layer MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) was achieved.

The high-speed processing capabilities of NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform are highly compatible with high-frequency bands that can be allocated to a wide frequency bandwidth per cell, and these capabilities are expected to be applied to future 6G applications such as centimeter waves. Furthermore, since such high-frequency cells are expected to be deployed in high-traffic urban areas, this AI-RAN outdoor test simulates an urban environment, creating a dense configuration with a high-interference area and a mobility area for test drives.

For mobile phones, it is necessary to have stability and high connectivity that will minimize the time the cell stops functioning due to failures or malfunctions during long-term operations, as well as network outages due to deterioration of radio wave quality. To achieve these at a high level, it is required to make verifications not only in a controlled radio environment like a laboratory, but also in an irregular radio environment that is situated outdoors. In this test, SoftBank is conducting various trials using more than 100 terminals to confirm the RAN’s stability and high connectivity, which are necessary for a carrier-grade service. Going forward, SoftBank plans to evaluate spatial multiplexing technologies, such as Massive MIMO, and AI for RAN, a technology that enables the enhancement of RAN performance with AI.