KT announced on Dec. 16 that it has successfully developed and demonstrated technology to maintain the Carrier Aggregation (CA) of HetNet, which is acknowledged to be core network infrastructure for 5G technology, in partnership with Ericsson. This method would guarantee more stable connection speeds in downtown areas, large stadiums, and event halls, places where wireless Internet is widely used.
HetNet is a network technology that increases data processing capacity and speed by constructing a large number of small cells inside a macro cell (a high-capacity base station). The technology is receiving a lot of attention in the industry as a very effective network in the 5G network environment, where a surge in data traffic is expected.
The 5G network environment in the future is likely to turn into a network environment with different frequencies, which will result in a sharp rise in the interference of frequencies.
Previously, the Korean mobile carrier and the Swedish telecoms equipment maker developed tech that maintains CA between micro and small cells, to guarantee the quality of network in a 5G era. This method automatically selects optimum small cells so that CA can be maintained when small cells adjacent to terminals move.
In testbed experiments for HetNet in KT's research and development center in Seoul, it was found that this technology increased more than 20 percent of data transfer speeds in interference areas compared to existing methods that do not remove the interruption of CA.