Ericsson takes on coordinator role for new METIS-II EU 5G project

Everyone has a role to play in the 5G standards process, and for Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), that means spearheading 5G system development as coordinator of the new METIS-II EU project as it sets out to develop the overall 5G radio system design and roadmap recommendations.

The project will play a key coordinating role within the 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) projects and bring key players together to advance 5G system architecture.

Ericsson also is taking the lead as technical coordinator of the Millimeter-Wave Based Mobile Radio Access Network for Fifth-Generation Integrated Communications (mmMAGIC) project targeting the 6-100 GHz range.

The METIS-II project is co-funded in the European Union H2020 research program and has a budget of nearly $9 million. As the main driver and coordinator of the METIS-II project together with a global consortium, Ericsson says it will integrate technologies into a radio access design and provide a platform for concerted actions aimed at regulatory and standards bodies. The METIS II project will leverage the success of METIS, the first integrated 5G project also coordinated by Ericsson, which completed its final deliverables in April.

Building consensus will be key as all the different vendors compete to get their ideas and concepts into the standards-setting process and ultimately a standard. Ericsson says the METIS-II project centers on a strong international consortium, consisting of 23 partners from all regions with strong 5G R&D initiatives (China, the EU, Japan, South Korea and the U.S.) and involving most of the major international vendors, major operators and key researchers.

Both the METIS-II and mmMAGIC projects will provide the different consortia with an opportunity to discuss and evaluate various research ideas before bringing them to the 3GPP. The 3GPP will meet in Phoenix, Ariz., in September to discuss 5G initiatives.

Last week, Peter Merz, head of Radio Systems Research for Nokia Networks (NYSE:NOK), told FierceWirelessTech that 2015 marks a tipping point of sorts as the industry moves from the research into the standardization phase. The standards process is expected to last into 2018-2019.

Earlier this month, the 5G-PPP announced the formation of the 5G Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive network Architecture (5G NORMA) group with the goal of delivering proposals for an end-to-end architecture covering 5G RAN and core networks by the end of 2017. Nokia is part of that effort as well, along with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and other European telecom industry leaders.

The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance recently announced the launch of a "comprehensive work-programme" that the group said will cover 5G business principles, technical architecture (including security), spectrum frequency ranges and bands and intellectual property. And 4G Americas recently published a report detailing the 3GPP's work on its Release 12 and Release 13 standards, which the group described as setting "the foundation for 5G."  

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