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Nokia has announced plans to present its 5G roadmap and reveal technologies it says will form the foundation for the next generation of adaptive, intelligent networks.
At the upcoming IEEE Globecom 2016 conference, Nokia will demonstrate how operators can make the most of scarce resources such as spectrum to deliver the dramatic increases in capacity and speed that the expanded ecosystem of connected people, machines and devices will demand in the 5G era.
The company will showcase its latest 5G-ready AirScale radio portfolio and introduce its commercial 4.5G Pro platform, illustrating complementary innovations that together aim to enable dynamic, intelligent and energy-efficient 5G networks.
Nokia Bell Labs will present Intelligent Traffic Steering, a solution designed to improve user experience by simultaneously leveraging multiple access technologies to select optimal traffic routes and balance load across available connections.
Attendees will also be able to view a breakthrough in small cell technology from Nokia Bell Labs: the F-Cell. This design is intended to help operators add network capacity, reduce latency and lower energy consumption by providing greater deployment flexibility and improved efficiency.
Hossein Moiin, Chief Technology Officer for Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “We have defined a technology path to 5G that will enable operators to increase capacity and speed while taking advantage of the opportunities created by a more connected world. Although mobile broadband demand will continue to be driven by ultra-high-definition video, the rapid rise in connected machines and the growing need for low-latency, highly reliable networks will create new opportunities for mobile communications.”
By combining advances in radio hardware, network intelligence and small cell innovation, Nokia aims to help operators transition from today’s mobile broadband-dominated networks to future 5G deployments that support a wide range of use cases—from immersive media to mission-critical machine-to-machine communications. The approach emphasizes efficient spectrum use, flexible deployment options and traffic management techniques that maximise the value of existing infrastructure while paving the way for next-generation services.
Key themes of the demonstrations include:
- Spectrum efficiency: techniques and radios designed to extract more capacity from available bands, enabling higher speeds and more simultaneous connections.
- Multi-access optimisation: using multiple radio access technologies together to route traffic intelligently and improve reliability and performance.
- Energy and deployment efficiency: small cell designs and network architectures intended to lower power consumption and enable denser, more flexible deployments where capacity is needed most.
- Incremental evolution to 5G: practical, commercially deployable steps such as 4.5G Pro and AirScale that help operators enhance today’s networks while preparing for full 5G capabilities.
These demonstrations reflect a broader industry trend toward networks that are not only faster, but also more adaptive and sustainable—capable of supporting diverse applications ranging from high-bandwidth consumer services to low-latency industrial and IoT use cases. By focusing on complementary innovations across radios, traffic steering and small cell technology, Nokia intends to show a cohesive path operators can follow to evolve their networks to meet future demands.