5G Benchmark Study, 2020: Focus on Verizon's 5G Millimeter Wave Indoor Network - ResearchAndMarkets.com

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "5G: The GreatestShow on Earth! Volume 8: Millimeter Wave Indoors" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The author just completed its eighth 5G benchmark study, this time with a focus on Verizon's 5G millimeter wave indoor network that it has deployed in US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings in downtown Minneapolis. For this study, they used two Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphones in the Ericsson-supplied network.

Highlights of the Report

Thanks

The author did this study in collaboration with Accuver Americas and Spirent Communications who provided their respective test equipment and platforms, which they identify in the report. The author is solely responsible for the analysis and commentary in the report.

Methodology

The author had full access to the stadium seating area on a day when there were not any other activities taking place. Gameday testing would have been impractical, plus the author doubted it would have had much impact on the 5G network performance. They used two Galaxy S10 smartphones to log chipset data while pushing continuous high-bandwidth data transfers.

5G millimeter wave coverage was near-ubiquitous.

Twelve radios within the stadium, plus another radio near one entrance provided virtually complete coverage throughout the stadium seating area, not to mention along a corridor behind the seating area.

Very strong 5G KPIs.

In addition to peak [PDSCH]speeds near 2 Gbps and a median throughput of just under 1 Gbps, the other KPIs (BRSRP, BSINR, CQI, MCS, etc.) were about as good as they can be. Obviously, speeds drop with 5G data traffic, but the concern with millimeter-wave is coverage and not capacity, and the author had no issues with the coverage.

Mobility is an area for improvement.

The author continuously moved throughout the seating area so handovers between 5G PCIs and between LTE PCIs (used for the anchor with NSA)had an impact. Pending improvements in the standard, vendor features, and moving to the SA architecture can help improve mobility. All handovers were better than they were in April when the operator launched 5G.

5G indoors is a no-brainer.

There was nothing magic about getting the great results they observed since there was line-of-site to the 5G radios and all seats were within the range of a millimeter-wave signal. These venues generate tremendous data traffic when occupied, plus the tens of thousands of attendees have discretionary income to afford 5G smartphones.

Bring on SA.

Having higher speeds is nice, but the key to success is the ability to offer true 5G services that are not impeded by the legacy LTE core network. With ubiquitous coverage within the stadium, Verizon has the opportunity to truly differentiate and move to a SA architecture within these types of venues, even if it retains NSA outdoors.

Companies Mentioned

• Accuver Americas
• Ericsson
• Samsung
• Spirent Communications
• Verizon

Key Topics Covered

1. Executive Summary

2. Key Observations

3. Performance KPIs

4. Mobility Analysis

5. Test Methodology

6. Final Thoughts

List of Figures

Figure 1. US Bank Test Routes

Figure 2. Distribution of Throughput

Figure 3. Geo Plot of 5G PDSCH Throughput

Figure 4. Distribution of 5G PDSCH Throughput - by total and component carrier

Figure 5. Distribution of 5G PDSCH Throughput - by component carrier

Figure 6. Distribution of 5G PDSCH RB Allocations - by component carrier

Figure 7. Distribution of 5G PDSCH RB Allocations - by component carrier

Figure 8. The View While Observing Gbps Speeds

Figure 9. The Impact of HTTP on Observed Data Speeds

Figure 10. Distribution of CQI

Figure 11. Geo Plot of CQI

Figure 12. 5G PDSCH Throughput as a Function of CQI

Figure 13. Distribution of BSINR

Figure 14. Distribution of BRSRP

Figure 15. Geo Plot of BRSRP

Figure 16. CQI as a Function of BSINR

Figure 17. Distribution of MCS Values - by component carrier

Figure 18. Distribution of Modulation Schemes - by component carrier

Figure 19. Median Utilization of Modulation Schemes - by component carrier

Figure 20. Geo Plot of Modulation Schemes

Figure 21. CQI as a Function of BRSRP Delta Between Serving Beam Index and the Top Interfering Beam Index

Figure 22. Distribution of 5G PCI Utilization

Figure 23. Geo Plot of 5G PCI Values

Figure 24. 5G Radios in US Bank Stadium

Figure 25. Distribution of LTE Anchor Band

Figure 26. Geo Plot of LTE Anchor Band

Figure 27. Geo Plot of LTE PCI Values

Figure 28. 5G and LTE PDSCH Throughput Versus Time

Figure 29. 5G PDSCH Throughput Versus Time - by component carrier

Figure 30. 5G RB Allocations Versus Time - by component carrier

Figure 31. BSINR Versus Number of Detected Beams

Figure 32. Geo Plot of PCI 409 Beam Indices

Figure 33. LTE PCI and 5G Beam Index with BRSRP for PCI 409

Figure 34. LTE PCI and 5G Beam Index for PCI 409

Figure 35. 5G Beam Indices and BRSRP for PCI 409

Figure 36. 5G Beam Indices and BRSRP for PCI 409

Figure 37. Geo Plot of PCI 405 Beam Indices

Figure 38. Geo Plot of PCI 410 Beam Indices

Figure 39. Geo Plot of PCI 411 Beam Indices

Figure 40. XCAL-Solo in Action

Figure 41. XCAL-Solo Hardware

Figure 42. Umetrix Data Architecture

List of Tables

Table 1. LTE PCI Handover

Table 2. 5G Beam Index Handovers

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9cwofo