Driven Forces
At MWC Shanghai 2023, Huawei launched 5GigaGreen innovations for wireless communications to promote ultimate network performance and energy saving with global operators.
Gan Bin, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei Wireless Network Product Line, stated that ultimate performance and energy saving are the driven forces for Huawei wireless innovation. Adhering to the philosophy of 5GigaGreen, Huawei keeps innovating in ultra-wideband, multi-antenna, maximized passive capability, and "0 bit 0 watt" equipment and network to make 5G from good to great.
Ultra-wideband Is the Best Choice for Reducing Energy Consumption of Multi-band Network
Huawei's ultra-wideband solution combines multiple bands into one for lower energy consumption and is applicable to all bands and scenarios.
Thanks to the innovations in ultra-wideband RF and power amplifier algorithm, Huawei was able to introduce the triple-band FDD 4T4R RRU, boasting the lowest power consumption in the industry, which supports the simplified deployment of all RATs on all frequency bands and offers a more than 20% energy consumption gain compared with the industry average. In Europe, after a site is upgraded from four to six bands, its energy consumption can be reduced by 30%. The ultra-wideband 4T4R RRUs have already entered large-scale commercial use around the world, with over 100,000 shipments.
Huawei has also expanded ultra-wideband technology from FDD to TDD. The 800 MHz MetaAAU, the industry's largest bandwidth, covers the full C-band and reduces power consumption by 20% than two separate 400 MHz modules.
Ultra-wideband has also been expanded from macro base stations to microwave and DIS. In microwave, the new 2T ODU enables the aggregation of more carriers to deliver 800 MHz bandwidth, reducing power consumption by 50% compared with the industry average. Furthermore, ultra-wideband LampSite enables 2 GHz bandwidth, slashing the power consumption of the entire site by 40%.
Multi-Antenna Is Optimal for Improving Bit Energy Efficiency
Supported by multi-antenna and large-bandwidth technologies, Huawei TDD Massive MIMO improves bit energy efficiency by 20 times compared with 4T4R. In high-traffic areas of commercial networks in the Middle East, TDD 64T64R Massive MIMO has achieved a bit energy efficiency gain of more than 10 times by employing multi-layer pairing technology. In the future, traffic volume will keep increasing, and more layers will be configured to improve the bit energy efficiency by up to 20 times.
Huawei is also the industry leader in FDD multi-antenna technology. In Europe, the FDD 8T8R solution, with its intelligent beamforming algorithm, has achieved a gain in bit energy efficiency of 1.5 times compared with traditional 4T4R. FDD M-MIMO, which is the only solution in the industry that is in large-scale commercial use, has improved energy efficiency by 3 times. With the enhancement in 3GPP Release 18 and beyond, it will be possible to achieve a 4 to 6 times increase in energy efficiency.
Maximize Passive Capabilities and Explore New Horizons to Reduce Energy Consumption
Signal direct injection feeding (SDIF) is Huawei's unique advanced antenna technology. It achieves zero cable and reduces loss by 1.5 dB. It works with Meta Lens to concentrate beam energy for greater RF efficiency of antennas, improving energy efficiency by 25%. Huawei has delivered more than 250,000 green antennas for global commercial networks.
In addition, Huawei continues to innovate in TDD Massive MIMO. The industry's unique MetaAAU introduces extremely large antenna array (ELAA) technology. In Europe, compared with traditional AAUs, MetaAAU has reduced energy consumption by 33%, while providing the same coverage, thanks to innovations in algorithms, architectures, software, and hardware. MetaAAUs have already entered large-scale commercial use around the world, with over 100,000 pieces shipped.
"0 Bit 0 Watt": a New Benchmark for Equipment Energy Saving
Based on advanced hardware and software design, Huawei has achieved the industry's first super deep dormancy with a 99% shutdown ratio, cutting equipment operating power to less than 5 W. With the innovative on-demand wakeup algorithm, equipment can wake up at any time to guarantee user experience.
Huawei is also the first company in the industry to achieve millisecond-level carrier and channel shutdown through joint innovations with digital and RF modules. This capability means an additional 10% energy saving compared with the minute-level shutdown commonly seen in the industry.
Intelligence Enables Network-level "0 Bit 0 Watt"
On a single network, traffic volume, energy-saving features, band and equipment energy efficiency, and the coverage of each band vary across sites. Huawei iPowerStar implements intelligent energy saving strategy orchestration that is based on the traffic characteristics, energy saving characteristics, energy efficiency grids, and experience grids on live networks. This maximizes the energy efficiency of multi-band networks by applying an optimal strategy for each site at each time.
During the May Day holiday in Hebei, China, iPowerStar reduced energy consumption by 19%, while traffic volume increased by 19%. Overall, the energy efficiency of the network increased by 45%.
At the end of his speech, Gan Bin said that Huawei will never stop 5GigaGreen innovation and will continue working with industry partners to make 5G from good to great.