BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Airspan Networks Inc., a subsidiary of Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO) announced today the successful completion of 5G and Open RAN interoperability tests of three levels in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum band (n48) using, for the first time, a mobile test device powered by Snapdragon® X60 5G Modem-RF System. Qualcomm Technologies’ mobile test device was connected to Airspan’s Open RAN 5G platform (OpenRANGE).

This significant achievement will help create opportunities for deployment and will enable better user experiences in a wide array of scenarios using CBRS spectrum. According to a recent article in Fierce Wireless, research firm SNS Telecom & IT predicts roughly 90% of all smartphone shipments in the United States by 2023, will be CBRS band-compatible. That includes 3GPP band n48 for 5G New Radio (NR) connectivity. SNS also estimated total US smartphone shipments at approximately 130 million.

The tests were run on Airspan's end-to-end Open RAN solution including Radio Units (RU), Distributed Units (DU) and Centralized Units (CU). The end-to-end testing setup included Airspan’s AirVelocity indoor solution and AirSpeed outdoor solution, both 5G Open RAN compliant, split 7.2 Radio Units (RUs) operating in the n48 (CBRS) standalone band. Tests included both lab and over-the-air field trials.

“This 5G milestone using the Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System in the CBRS n48 band will help enable the full capabilities of 5G,” said Sanjeev Athalye, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “This achievement will pave the way for the development of mobile devices leveraging CBRS spectrum for consumer and enterprise use cases.”

“Airspan continues to be at the forefront of leading and enhancing the 5G ecosystem leveraging our end-to-end Open RAN solutions. This comprehensive series of tests will help provide a roadmap to manufacture the next generation of 5G devices using CBRS spectrum, that will leverage Airspan’s innovative 5G and Open RAN software and hardware solutions,” said Airspan President and CEO Eric Stonestrom.

The series of tests included:

• All stages to establish successful 5G calls (PHY/MAC software layers)
• Download and upload data transfer tests for maximum connectivity and throughput
• Link adaption
  • Interoperability with 5G networks
  • Modulation adaptation to overcome interference
  • Work with numerous spectrum frequencies
  • Pushing the reliability of cell site to cell site handoffs as well as stationary usage performance
• Radio Link Failure (RLF) and recovery
  • Important test to determine how quickly a network recovers a call due to limited coverage or interference; the goal is for the network to adapt in less than a second, so the customer using wireless devices maintains connectivity
• Mobility scenarios