The Huawei 5.5G concept refers to advancements in areas like integrated sensing, Level 4 autonomous driving and green IoT
SHANGHAI – Chinese vendor Huawei announced plans to launch a set of commercial 5.5G network equipment in 2024. The announcement was made by Huawei’s director and president of ICT products and solutions Yang Chaobin during a presentation at MWC Shanghai 2023, taking place this week in Shanghai, China.
5.5G is Huawei’s brand name for advancements in areas like integrated sensing and communication, Level 4 autonomous driving, “all-scenario IoT” concepts and green ICT. Huawei also noted that these future networks will enable a 10-fold improvement in latency, positioning accuracy and reliability. And according to the Chinese vendor, Passive IoT technology will enable an increase in the number of connected things from current 10 billion to 100 billion in 2030.
Huawei noted that it proposed the concept of a 5.5G, based on an end-to-end solution that integrates technologies including 5.5G, F5.5G and Net5.5G. This solution would protect operators’ previous investment in 5G, Huawei said.
“With a clearly defined standardization schedule, the 5.5G era is already poised for technological and commercial verification. In 2024, Huawei will launch a complete set of commercial 5.5G network equipment to be prepared for the commercial deployment of 5.5G. We look forward to working with all industry players to embark on the new journey towards the 5.5G era,” Yang said.
Huawei also highlighted it has been working with multiple players across the industry on R&D and verification of key 5.5G technologies. It also noted that significant progress has been made in this verification process, specifically for extremely large antenna array (ELAA) which underpins 10 gigabit downlink, flexible spectrum access which helps realize gigabit uplink and passive IoT, which can enable 100 billion IoT connections.
Huawei said it has worked with more than 30 operators around the world on technological verification and application pilots for these technologies.
During the presentation, Yang also announced that Huawei has been working on applying AI-native technologies to 5.5G core networks to enhance network capabilities and availability. According to the vendor, this would allow AI capabilities to be delivered to the very ends of networks, so that they can better serve several industries.
Sabrina Meng, Huawei’s rotating chairwoman and CFO said in her keynote speech at the event that 5.5G technology will not only connect people better but it will also create incredible new business opportunities with more targeted support for industrial needs in domains like IoT, sensing, and advanced manufacturing,