In two separate special temporary authority applications, AT&T is aiming to conduct 5G demonstrations at a resort in Wailea, Hawaii, and at Atlanta’s Georgia International Plaza.
The demo in Atlanta is scheduled to happen during a tailgate before the Atlanta Falcons vs. Dallas Cowboys game on Nov. 18, and the one in Hawaii coincides with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit in December. For the demo in Hawaii (PDF), AT&T plans to use both 39 GHz and 28 GHz spectrum for experimental 5G New Radio systems. The demo in Atlanta (PDF) will be confined to 28 GHz.
Separately, AT&T said it's working with Nokia and Jaunt for the Atlanta demo to demonstrate how the power of 5G is enabling the future of mobile content and immersive experiences. The demo in Hawaii will highlight the power of mobile 5G and immersive storytelling; celebrities from across industries will guide participants through an immersive, interactive and personal look into their lives using 5G and real-time volumetric capture. AT&T says it will "soon" share details about the identity of the celebrities and the experiences.
In both cases, the 5G air links will be used to demonstrate various applications that require very high speeds and very low latencies made possible by 5G advanced wireless communication systems.
“The results will provide valuable information to users whose feedback could be used to enable product development and system optimization, as well as to improve future system standards and the deployment processes,” AT&T said in the application.
The demo at the Grand Wailea resort facilities will involve communications between up to three fixed base stations and up to 10 user equipment (UE) units placed within 100 meters of the base station antennas. The base stations and the UE antennas will be placed indoors with antennas at a height of less than 6 meters above the floor inside a building within the resort perimeter.
The base stations will have connectivity to internal servers and/or the internet to provide content over the 5G air interface for the purposes of the demonstrations. The UEs can provide services to various devices through Wi-Fi access points that are connected to the UEs via Ethernet cable, AT&T said.
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The demo at Atlanta’s Georgia International Plaza will involve communications between up to two fixed-base stations and up to four UE units placed within 100 meters of the base station antennas. The base stations and the UE antennas will be placed outdoors with antennas at a height of less than 4 meters above the ground.
The timeline for the STA at the Grand Wailea resort facilities is from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, while the STA being sought for Atlanta is for Nov. 1 through Nov. 30.
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Although Verizon has already launched a commercial fixed wireless 5G product, AT&T says it will be the first company to bring both a standards-based mobile 5G network and a mobile 5G device to its customers, with plans to deliver mobile 5G in 12 cities this year and to reach at least 19 cities by early 2019.
AT&T also has said it upgraded 99 new markets with LTE Advanced technologies such as carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM, bringing its total number of “5G Evolution” markets to 239. AT&T’s LTE-LAA also is now live in parts of 20 cities, with plans to reach at least 24 cities this year.