FX.co ★ SoftBank Develops 5G Layer 1 Software For Carrier-Grade VRAN On NVIDIA Grace Hopper Platform

SoftBank Corp. announced the development of advanced 5G Layer 1 (L1) software, achieving superior performance and quality in a virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) powered by the NVIDIA Grace Hopper platform.

The company has pioneered the creation of an outdoor testing environment in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. This setup uniquely allows the baseband processing of 20 distinct 5G cells utilizing a bandwidth of 100 MHz on a single server equipped with the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip. During these tests, the 4.9 GHz frequency band was employed, achieving a peak communication capacity of roughly 1.3 Gbps per cell using a maximum of 4-layer MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output).

NVIDIA's advanced computing capabilities are particularly well-suited for high-frequency bands, which can accommodate a broader frequency bandwidth per cell. These capabilities are anticipated to be instrumental in forthcoming 6G innovations, including applications utilizing centimeter waves.

In a separate announcement, NVIDIA noted that SoftBank has successfully tested the integration of AI and 5G telecom networks using the NVIDIA AI Aerial accelerated computing platform. This breakthrough heralds new opportunities for telecom operators, potentially unlocking AI-driven revenue streams valued at billions of dollars.