Verizon and Ericsson are laying claim to the first pre-standard 7 GHz 6G field call from a Verizon commercial network site.
It is described as a pre-standard proof-of-concept demonstration as opposed to a commercial 6G service launch – which would have been a surprise to say the least – in that it is concerned with putting early stage 6G tech currently under development through the ringer before official standards are finalised.
Ericsson 6G proof-of-concept kit was deployed at Verizon’s commercial site in Concord, California and used for test validation, which the release says moves “6G from lab integration into a real-world environment where performance can be assessed both outdoors and as signals move from outside in through buildings.”
The base station was installed separately in the site shelter, while the user equipment was in a small house on wheels that supports stationary outdoor and indoor radio configurations. It has varied wall and window materials to enable differentiated testing of indoor coverage using a pre-standard 6G stack with a 400 MHz carrier.
What occurred was an indoor penetration test as well as an outdoor call, the intention being to examine how 6G performance carries from open air into indoor spaces.
Things they were putting under the microscope included coverage, throughput, latency, stability and feature behaviour “under realistic conditions”, including line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight paths, foliage, obstacles and outside-in penetration through different glass and building materials.
“Over time, 6G is expected to bring more programmable, responsive and context-aware connectivity, potentially enabling new experiences and use cases across immersive communications, AI-native services, industrial automation and robotics,” states the release.
The two firms intend to continue analysing field results and applying what comes out of that to future 6G research, testing, and deployment planning.
“As a founding member of the Verizon 6G Innovation Forum, Ericsson plays a vital role in our shared mission to build an open, diversified ecosystem and move 6G from theoretical research into practical, real-world reality,” said Yago Tenorio, Chief Technology Officer and SVP of Technology Development at Verizon.
