Nvidia, the US chipmaker, has announced that its software-defined AI radio access network (AI-RAN) technology has moved out of controlled laboratory environments and into live outdoor field trials conducted by major mobile operators.
T-Mobile US, Japan's SoftBank and Indonesian carrier Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison have each cleared implementation milestones on Nvidia's AI-RAN platforms, the company said.
T-Mobile US demonstrated simultaneous artificial intelligence and radio access network processing using Nokia's graphics processing unit-accelerated RAN software paired with a Nokia AirScale massive MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) radio in the 3.7GHz frequency band.
SoftBank completed a 16-layer massive MIMO trial running fully software-defined 5G on Nvidia AI-RAN infrastructure.
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison advanced from proof-of-concept testing to pre-commercial field validation and demonstrated what it described as Southeast Asia's first AI-powered 5G call, which included remote control of a robotic dog transmitted over a live network.
Technology firm SynaXG ran both 4G and 5G simultaneously across sub-6GHz and millimetre wave frequency bands on a single Nvidia GH200 server, activating 20 component carriers and recording 36 gigabits per second throughput with latency below 10 milliseconds.
Nvidia said 26 of the 33 AI-RAN Alliance demonstrations at MWC are built on its Aerial software and software-defined architecture, with hardware partners including Quanta Cloud Technology, Supermicro and Supermicro integrating with the platform.
The company has also open-sourced its Aerial CUDA-accelerated RAN libraries and joined the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation, a standards and interoperability body.
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"AI-RAN is emerging as a unifying architecture for future radio networks," said Alex Choi, chair of the AI-RAN Alliance.
Nvidia pointed to findings from its State of AI in Telecom report, which it said shows accelerating operator investment in AI-native RAN and sixth-generation (6G) network development.
The recap
- Live AI-RAN field trials conducted by NVIDIA and operators.
- SynaXG achieved 36 Gbps throughput with under 10 milliseconds latency.
- NVIDIA platforms power 26 AI-RAN demos planned for MWC.