Can 5G RedCap technology help operators regain confidence?

As my country has built the world's largest 5G network, the scale of 5G applications in various industries has continued to expand. In the process of realizing massive Internet of Things, the high terminal cost has become one of the "bottlenecks" restricting the large-scale development of 5G.

The emergence of RedCap has a far-reaching impact on the development of 5G, effectively reducing the cost and power consumption of 5G, further meeting the actual needs of users, and enabling a large number of applications. In order to achieve the goal of commercial use by the end of 2023 and large-scale development by 2025, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting Corporation are actively promoting the maturity of the RedCap industry, in order to form a new 5G large-scale application market in the field of Internet of Things.

RedCap is expected to truly activate the 5G market

Although my country has achieved "superhumanization of things", the development of the 5G module industry is not ideal, with annual shipments reaching only millions. This is mainly due to the technical shortcomings of the combination of 5G and mobile Internet of Things, the high power consumption and high cost of terminals, and the lack of suitable products for 40% to 50% of 5G medium-speed scenarios, which hinders the development of 5G in the Internet of Things market.

RedCap can cover the demand scenarios of LTE Cat.4, while finding a balance between "technical performance and deployment cost", bringing new opportunities and injecting new vitality into the large-scale development of 5G. Zheng Kangwei, a 5G module product expert at China Mobile IoT, told reporters that judging from the trend of industrial development, RedCap chips and modules are expected to reach the cost level of LTE Cat.4 within one or two years.

Wang Zhicheng, director of China Telecom's 5G IoT Joint Open Laboratory, said that RedCap has already triggered obvious demand in scenarios such as power, video transmission, and data collection. In the future, it will achieve substantial development in the fields of vehicle communications, remote control, and wearable devices. More importantly, since IoT devices in more scenarios can be stably connected to the network, this will further promote the evolution and implementation of AI technology.

Zhou Jing, director of the Pan-Terminal Technology Research Center of China Unicom Research Institute, believes that based on the technical characteristics and industry needs of RedCap, its applicable scenarios can be divided into three categories, namely experience guarantee scenarios, traffic growth scenarios and traditional evolution scenarios. In these areas, RedCap is expected to truly activate the 5G industry market. For experience guarantee scenarios, such as fully connected factories, power distribution/power consumption, etc., RedCap can superimpose 5G network slicing, uRLLC, high-precision timing and other enhanced features while meeting the network rate requirements of data collection services, helping enterprises achieve 5G digital transformation at a lower cost.

For traffic growth scenarios, such as "AI + video surveillance", RedCap can meet the connection requirements in most scenarios and promote the large-scale development of wireless cameras. Traditional evolutionary scenarios (such as Internet of Vehicles, smart wearables, etc.) mostly have the need to upgrade from 4G to 5G. 5G eMBB and RedCap can better replace 4G. The market prospects of RedCap are broad in the future. For example, in the field of video surveillance, it is expected that tens of millions of camera terminals will be upgraded to RedCap technology.

RedCap will drive new breakthroughs in the network

Regarding whether the deployment of RedCap will bring pressure to operators' network construction, Lu Songhe, a senior researcher at the Wireless and Terminal Technology Institute of China Mobile Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters that the deployment of RedCap is mainly to upgrade the software of base stations under construction and existing base stations, and does not involve transformation or introduction of new network architecture.

However, the introduction of RedCap technology still has an impact on access management, resource management, signaling overhead, network coverage and other aspects, including early identification and access control of RedCap terminals, access congestion when RedCap terminals and non-RedCap terminals coexist in the network, resource fragmentation caused by differences in maximum working bandwidth, changes in business assurance strategies and how to reduce network signaling overhead.

Therefore, ensuring that the network adopts a matching management strategy while avoiding negative impacts on non-RedCap terminals will become the focus of the operator's network operation and optimization in the next step.

"The network deployment of 5G RedCap is closely related to the overall deployment of 5G networks. From a network perspective, RedCap is not equivalent to an enhanced version of 4G network with higher speed, lower power consumption and lower latency, but it combines the characteristics of 5G to find new breakthroughs and explore new possibilities." Song Yu, an expert in IoT network communication technology at China Mobile, told reporters.

China Telecom: Relying on the 5G inside plan to achieve RedCap transformation

China Telecom has been continuously exploring the application scenarios of RedCap since 2021. At the beginning of 2022, China Telecom launched RedCap network verification of industry application scenarios in enterprises such as Jiangsu Zhenjiang Port, Zhejiang State Grid Electric Power, Hebei Aosen Steel, Inner Mongolia Zhunneng Coal Mine, and Jiangxi Xinghuo Chemical. In 2023, in order to further verify the expansion and coordination of RedCap's industry applications in a wide area, China Telecom conducted a "RedCap City" pilot in Shenzhen, and at the same time launched 15 industry pilot units across the country to conduct scenario verification. At present, China Telecom has connected more than 50 RedCap industry terminals and verified more than 20 industry application scenarios.

Modules are also one of the keys to the commercial success of RedCap. Benefiting from the 5G inside plan, China Telecom's self-developed RedCap module has a series of exclusive functions such as terminal management, direct traffic allocation, self-test and fault determination. Tianyi IoT will rely on China Telecom's 18 branch laboratory nodes distributed in 8 provinces to continuously promote the docking of RedCap terminal modules around industry application scenarios; and introduce industry capabilities through the 5G inside plan to cooperate with the RedCap transformation of industry terminals, and continuously explore, verify and optimize RedCap modules and terminal performance through the laboratory system.

China Mobile: Bravely taking on the responsibility of "chain leader" and launching special research

China Mobile has defined a multi-network collaborative IoT technology system that includes low-rate NB-IoT, medium-rate LTE Cat.1, high-rate LTE Cat.4, 5G RedCap, and ultra-high-rate 5G NR. It has connected all aspects of the industry and worked with industry partners to carry out multi-dimensional industry promotion work such as technology research, testing and verification.

In order to actively implement the country's "new infrastructure" development strategy and strive to commercialize RedCap by the end of 2023, China Mobile has joined hands with industry partners to launch the "RedCap Special Research" to accelerate the commercialization of RedCap. It invites all parties in the industry chain, including network, chip, module, and terminal manufacturers, to jointly carry out RedCap commercial research, accelerate the maturity of RedCap products and the implementation of their applications, and promote the integrated application of RedCap technology and vertical industries.

China Mobile has taken on the important task of being the leader of the modern mobile information industry chain. In the first half of 2023, six RedCap teams will be established to jointly carry out RedCap commercial research. By connecting all links in the end-to-end industry chain, the cycle from product development to application implementation will be shortened, accelerating the maturity of the chip industry. China Mobile IoT has also launched the RedCap module - the MR880A series, which is aimed at a variety of industry applications such as smart factories, video surveillance, smart power, smart wearables, and vehicle communications.

In terms of testing and verification, China Mobile has worked closely with mainstream network equipment manufacturers and chip manufacturers to lead the commercial-oriented 5G RedCap end-to-end testing and verification. It has completed 5G RedCap networking trials of five major equipment manufacturers and is further carrying out technical trials of terminal chips and modules.

China Unicom: First universal 5G RedCap commercial module

China Unicom has carried out a series of work around RedCap technology research, testing and verification, etc. In terms of testing and certification, China Unicom has established a four-in-one testing and certification system of "instrument + simulation network + real network + scenario test field" in the industry.

In terms of network, China Unicom launched the industry's first 100-station contiguous test network and also initiated network trials in multiple provincial and municipal branches, carrying out technical verification covering its own frequency bands, RedCap functions of related manufacturers, performance, network optimization, and end-to-end collaboration.

In terms of terminal modules, during MWC2023, China Unicom released the world's first general-purpose 5G RedCap commercial module-Yanfei NX307, and then released three more RedCap industry terminals in May.

In terms of commercial promotion, China Unicom has carried out multiple commercial verifications based on real networks, real terminals and real users in multiple provinces for industries such as industry, power and Internet of Vehicles. At the "MWC Shanghai" held in June, China Unicom officially released the RedCap product that integrates terminals, networks and industries.

In July 2023, China Radio and Television also joined hands with industry partners to conduct end-to-end testing of RedCap commercial key functions and performance in the 700MHz and 4.9GHz frequency bands of China Radio and Television based on the configuration of China Radio and Television's 5G network, and jointly carried out RedCap technology discussions, deployment plan optimization, business scenario construction analysis, etc., to further build industry consensus.

In short, with the joint efforts of all parties, the RedCap industry chain will gradually mature in 2023. It is expected that commercial chips will be released one after another by the end of the year, the system will have commercial capabilities, the network upgrade will be launched and the first commercial case will be realized. It is expected that RedCap will form a new 5G scale application market in the field of Internet of Things in the future.