The three major operators work together to embrace 5G positioning, accelerate capacity improvement, and jointly create an industrial ecosystem

Telecom operators are not only the builders and operators of network infrastructure, but also the pioneers of digital transformation, driving the in-depth development of the 5G industry chain with a significant demonstration effect. On September 28, during the "2021 China International Information and Communication Exhibition", at the "5G Positioning Industry Forum" with the theme of "Solidly Innovate in 5G and Create a Smart Positioning Future" hosted by the 5G Application Industry Array, experts from China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom shared the practice and thinking of telecom operators on "5G Positioning" with the guests.

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China Telecom: Achieving 5G positioning and multi-digital technology cloud network integration to enable digital transformation in thousands of industries

Ma Guozu, a senior expert at China Telecom and deputy general manager of China Electronics Wanwei Information Technology Co., Ltd., said that the country has proposed that "space-time information and positioning navigation services have become important new infrastructure." In recent years, the demand for positioning applications has gradually shifted from outdoor to indoor. Fast, real-time, and accurate indoor positioning can combine physical objects in the real world with data information in virtual space, greatly changing the way industries such as retail, manufacturing, logistics, and emergency care operate. The seamless connection of indoor and outdoor positioning will truly realize the interconnection of all things.

China Telecom is deeply exploring the application potential of 5G positioning and communication with large bandwidth integrated into one network. For example, indoor positioning uses 5G UTDOA positioning, which has no requirements on terminals, and increases positioning capabilities in the construction of 5G indoor distributed systems to achieve meter-level positioning accuracy, meet the requirements of low indoor positioning accuracy, and further achieve centimeter-level high-precision positioning by adding vSLAM positioning technology.

"China Telecom has injected 5G indoor positioning technology into the 'Tianyi Cloud Map' platform to achieve cloud-network integration of 5G positioning + AI + XR multiple digital technologies, and will take the lead in applying it to the field of information consumption." Ma Guozu introduced that this move will accelerate the integration of 5G positioning end-to-end networking capabilities, overcome key technical difficulties, and build an ecological symbiosis platform for the vigorous development of the 5G positioning industry, so that 5G positioning atomic capabilities can better empower information consumption, industrial production, social governance and people's livelihood services.

China Mobile: Focus on technological innovation and accelerate the maturity of 5G positioning capabilities

Guo Weijiang, director of the network location team at China Mobile (Shanghai) Industrial Research Institute, pointed out that positioning capabilities have become one of the important requirements for the digital transformation and development of vertical industries. China Mobile has incorporated "location" into the capacity building of China Mobile's smart middle platform and actively deployed a 5G+ indoor and outdoor positioning technology innovation system.

In terms of outdoor positioning, China Mobile has combined the Beidou navigation system and ground differential reference stations to build a nationwide outdoor Beidou differential high-precision positioning network with dynamic centimeter-level and static millimeter-level accuracy; in terms of indoor positioning, China Mobile has leveraged its own network advantages, standards and industry influence to comprehensively deploy the field of indoor positioning, driven by 5G network construction, combining 5G with other pan-wireless technologies to create 5G+ indoor and outdoor high-precision positioning services.

At present, China Mobile has built an "indoor 5G+ multi-integrated high-precision positioning platform". Based on 5G+ pan-wireless positioning technology, it has the location service capability of multiple positioning technologies and multiple positioning accuracies, and can provide industry customers with location services with centimeter, sub-meter, and meter-level accuracy. In addition, China Mobile closely follows the evolution of 5G positioning technology, and jointly with Huawei and other partners, has successively released the "5G Positioning Capability Open Industry White Paper" and the "China Mobile 5G High-Precision Positioning Capability White Paper", and is promoting the pilot verification of 5G+ positioning capabilities in industry scenarios such as smart industry.

Guo Weijiang said that high-precision location services have great development potential in vertical industries, and China Mobile regards positioning services as an important capability in the toB market. With the evolution and improvement of 3GPP standards, 5G-based positioning technology will gradually achieve sub-meter high-precision positioning. China Mobile will focus on the evolution of 5G technical standards and the construction of positioning capabilities to promote the maturity of 5G positioning technology.

China Unicom: Actively building a high-precision indoor and outdoor positioning product system around 5G and Beidou

5G and BeiDou are major projects and key goals proposed in the country's 14th Five-Year Plan, and are also important components of the national space-ground integration strategy. The Internet of Things revolution brought about by 5G will promote the ubiquitous application of BeiDou and time-space information. The application of 5G high-precision positioning will further enable the digital transformation and high-quality development of thousands of industries.

It is understood that China Unicom attaches great importance to the integrated innovation of 5G+Beidou high-precision positioning. As the only vice president unit of the China Satellite Navigation and Positioning Association (CASNA) among operators, it has been responsible for the work of the Beidou Internet of Things Committee of CASNA for a long time, and is promoting the establishment of the Beidou+5G Committee to accelerate 5G+Beidou technology innovation and product development, and has completed the creation of lighthouse projects in the fields of smart cities, industrial Internet, smart ports, etc.

Yang Shan, director of the Space-Time Service Center of China Unicom Smart City Research Institute, said, "China Unicom has taken positioning as an important basic capability and is actively building a high-precision indoor and outdoor positioning product system around 5G and Beidou. We have carried out commercial tests of 5G indoor positioning in industries such as 3C manufacturing and automobile manufacturing. In the future, we hope to work with industry chain partners to improve the capabilities of platforms, networks and terminals to provide the best positioning networks and services for industry needs."