The tests achieved 5G uplink speeds of 363Mbps, said Samsung and MediaTek

Samsung and MediaTek this week announced the successful testing of 5G Standalone Uplink (UL) 2CC Carrier Aggregation (CA) with C-Band UL MIMO at the former’s lab in Suwon, Korea. The pair claim the approach, which used three transmit (3Tx) antennas to improve upload experiences, allowed them to hit top uplink speeds of 363 Mbps.

“While current smartphones and customer premise equipment (CPEs) can only support 2Tx antennas, this industry-first demonstration validated the enhanced mobile capability of 3Tx antenna support,” Samsung explained in a press release. The company added that this approach improves upload speeds and enhances spectrum, data transmission efficiency and overall network performance.

“Faster uplink speeds bring new possibilities and have the potential to transform user experiences,” stated Dongwoo Lee, head of Samsung’s Technology Solution Group.

The test utilized Samsung’s C-Band Massive MIMO radios, virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and core, as well as a MediaTek test device featuring its new M80-based CPE chipset began with one uplink channel apiece at 1,900 MHz and 3.7 GHz. The pair added an extra uplink flow using MIMO on 3.7 GHz.

“Enhancing uplink performance using groundbreaking tri-antenna and 5G UL infrastructure technologies will ensure next-generation 5G experiences continue to impress users globally,” said HC Hwang, general manager of Wireless Communication System and Partnership at MediaTek. “Our collaboration with Samsung has proved our combined technical capabilities to overcome previous limits, enhancing network performance and efficiency, opening up new possibilities for service providers and consumers to enjoy faster and more reliable 5G data connectivity.”