Category: News

MulteFire Works will showcase live technology demonstrations of MulteFire in 1.9 GHz

TOKYO – January 30, 2019 – The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium that is defining and promoting MulteFire® technology – LTE technology operating standalone in unlicensed bands – today announced that MulteFire technology is ready for commercial deployment in Japan. The Alliance will host a celebration event – MulteFire Works – on February 13 from 4:00-7:00pm in the Silver12 Ballroom at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. During the event, MulteFire Alliance member companies will demonstrate MulteFire use cases for Enterprise. The event is open to anyone with an interest in MulteFire technology; register here.

“MulteFire technology operating standalone in the 1.9 GHz band brings new capabilities to our enterprise subscribers, and it will help enable us to connect billions of new IoT devices,” said Yoshioki Chika, MulteFire Alliance Board Member and Senior Director of SoftBank’s Solution Strategy Office. “We hope that the industry will join us for this evening reception to see the live demos and celebrate this milestone moment for MulteFire.”

The recently completed MulteFire Release 1.1 specification added support for the 1.9 GHz band, also known as sXGP in Japan, takes advantage of the devices ecosystem in 3GPP Band 39.  MulteFire is now ready for commercial deployment in Japan with support from the XGP Forum and an ecosystem of TD-LTE devices in places today. The standardization of sXGP was completed in January 2018 as the first unlicensed LTE in Band 39.

“The commercialization of MulteFire in Japan is here,” said Yoshiya Iribe, Secretary General, XGP Forum. “There are more than 1 billion mobile terminals that are already supported by the 1.9 GHz band of MulteFire Release 1.1 and several companies have launched eNodeBs that will enable MulteFire deployments. We applaud the MulteFire Alliance’s efforts to deliver a new wireless technology that supports business-critical applications for industrial IoT, utilities, transportation, and more, and we are excited to share the technology benefits at MulteFire Works.” 

MulteFire Works Technology Demonstrations

The MulteFire Works event will feature live demonstrations in 1.9 GHz, as well as technology demonstrations for the global unlicensed 5 GHz band. Participating companies include Athonet, Baicells, DEKRA Japan, Nokia, Qucell, Quortus and Sanjole.

Register for MulteFire Works here.

Resources:

• Video: MulteFire Release 1.1 Commercialized in Japan
• White Paper: MulteFire Release 1.1 Technical Overview

About the MulteFire Alliance The MulteFire Alliance is an international association dedicated to building a global ecosystem in support of the common interests of members, developers and users in the application of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and next-generation mobile cellular technology, such as 5G New Radio, in configurations that use unlicensed or shared radio spectrum. For more information about MulteFire, its benefits, or how to become a member of the MulteFire Alliance, visit www.multefire.org.

Release 1.1 specification adds support for new features and spectrum bands, including the 1.9 GHz unlicensed band

FREMONT, CA – December 4, 2018 – The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium that is defining and promoting MulteFire® technology – LTE technology operating in unlicensed bands – today announced the completion of its Release 1.1 specification that is optimized for IoT. Adding support for eMTC-U and NB-IoT-U, as well as support for additional spectrum bands, the Release 1.1 specification delivers more robust wireless network capabilities for Industrial IoT and Enterprises to meet their specific requirements for performance, latency, security and mobility.

“The Release 1.1 Technical Specification is a significant achievement offering an optimized specification for IoT and support for additional spectrum bands,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, president, MulteFire Alliance. “This milestone could not have been reached without the dedication and commitment of the Technical Specification Group members who have worked tirelessly to evolve MulteFire technology to meet the needs of industrial IoT and enterprise.”

“MulteFire 1.0 is a novel technology that was designed to create new wireless networks by operating LTE-based technology standalone in unlicensed or shared spectrum bands,” said Asimakis Kokkos, chair, Technical Specification Group, MulteFire Alliance and head of Industry Environment Strategy, Nokia. “MulteFire 1.1 takes the potential of this technology even further by improving on the performance of MulteFire 1.0 for the global 5 GHz unlicensed band, and by adding new capabilities and support for additional spectrum bands.”

Specification Highlights

The MulteFire Release 1.1 specification includes the following features:

• Added Additional Spectrum Bands Focusing on IoT and Expanded IoT Services with Low Power Wide Area Support
  • Adds eMTC-U support for moderate data rate applications in the global 2.4 GHz unlicensed band
  • Adds NB-IoT-U support for narrowband applications in the regional 800/900 MHz unlicensed bands
  • Adds MulteFire 1.9 GHz support (for the unlicensed part in 3GPP defined Band 39), also known as sXGP in Japan, which is ready for commercial deployment in Japan with support from the XGP Forum and an ecosystem of TD-LTE devices in place that support Band 39 today
• Enhanced MulteFire 1.0 Broadband Services in the Global 5 GHz Unlicensed Band
  • Delivers more robust mobility in up to 50 km/h speeds with the addition of Autonomous UE Mobility (AUM) which performs autonomous handover without explicit network command
  • Allows for faster uplink data transmissions with Grant-less Uplink (GUL), whereby the UE can start transmitting immediately
  • Supports improved downlink coverage with Wideband Coverage Enhancements (WCE)
  • Adds Self-Organizing Networks (SON) capabilities

A new white paper, Release 1.1 Technical Overview, provides more details and is available to download at www.MulteFire.org/white-papers.

The Release 1.1 specification will be published to MulteFire Alliance members in January 2019 and will be made available for download by anyone with an interest in MulteFire technology by mid-year. For information on joining the MulteFire Alliance, visit www.MulteFire.org/join.

About the MulteFire Alliance

The MulteFire Alliance is an international association dedicated to building a global ecosystem in support of the common interests of members, developers and users in the application of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and next-generation mobile cellular technology, such as 5G New Radio, in configurations that use unlicensed or shared radio spectrum. For more information about MulteFire, its benefits, or how to become a member of the MulteFire Alliance, visit www.multefire.org.