Cohere Technologies put its universal spectrum multiplier (USM) software to the test on Bell Canada’s brownfield network, a move the vendor claims takes it a step closer to commercial deployment.
The operator is the first to successfully test single user and multiple user MIMO coordinated scheduling functions using open interfaces in the 850Mhz band.
Cohere Technologies asserts USM has the potential to improve 5G capacity by up to 50 per cent by enhancing the spectral efficiency of RAN networks.
The outdoor trial in December and January was conducted using mobile devices connected to Bell’s 850MHz spectrum band (FDD) using its standalone 5G network.
Cohere Technology stated its USM software conducted coordinated scheduling with a third-party base station to pair single user devices to enable MU-MIMO capacity improvement of existing resources where possible.
A representative for Cohere Technology told Mobile World Live (MWL) the test proved that USM works with a large OEM for coordinated scheduling across an existing brownfield scenario.
Last year the vendor tested USM across a greenfield network with Vodafone Group in Spain.
“In the coming months, we will work together to validate scalability in a live commercial network as the final step before commercialisation,” Cohere Technologies CEO Ray Dolan stated.
In October 2024, Dolan told MWL the USM software would be in place with one of the world’s largest RAN players by year-end.