SoftBank Corp. Develops 5G L1 Software, Achieving Carrier-grade High Performance and Quality vRAN on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Platform

TOKYO--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- (TOKYO:9434, “SoftBank”) announced it developed 5G L1* software based on the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform, delivering the high stability and high performance essential for a carrier-grade RAN through parallel signal processing and the optimization of task initiation timing. With this newly developed L1 software, carrier-grade stability has been achieved. In addition to realizing high stability, SoftBank will develop L1 software that can achieve maximized RAN capacity and reduced power consumption.

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Antennas installed in AI-RAN outdoor testing environment (Photo: Business Wire)

*L1: “Physical Layer (Layer 1)” of the OSI reference model in vRAN software architecture.

SoftBank constructed the world’s first* high-quality 5G vRAN (virtual Radio Access Network) outdoor testing environment, utilizing its newly developed L1 software running on the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip platform. NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip architecture brings together the accelerated performance of the NVIDIA Hopper architecture with the versatility of the Arm® Neoverse™ V2 - based NVIDIA Grace CPU in a single superchip.

*World's first: Implementation of an outdoor testing environment enabling baseband processing of up to 4-layer MIMO and 20 cells on a 100MHz bandwidth on a single server featuring the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip. Based on confirmation by NVIDIA as of November 13, 2024.

Overview of AI-RAN Outdoor Test

SoftBank built the world’s first outdoor testing environment that enables the baseband processing of 20 5G cells with a bandwidth of 100 MHz on a single server featuring the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The 4.9 GHz frequency band was used for this outdoor test and a maximum communication capacity of approximately 1.3 Gbps per cell through a maximum of 4-layer MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) was achieved.

The high-speed processing capabilities of NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform are highly compatible with high-frequency bands that can be allocated to a wide frequency bandwidth per cell, and these capabilities are expected to be applied to future 6G applications such as centimeter waves. Furthermore, since such high-frequency cells are expected to be deployed in high-traffic urban areas, this AI-RAN outdoor test simulates an urban environment, creating a dense configuration with a high-interference area and a mobility area for test drives.

For mobile phones, it is necessary to have stability and high connectivity that will minimize the time the cell stops functioning due to failures or malfunctions during long-term operations, as well as network outages due to deterioration of radio wave quality. To achieve these at a high level, it is required to make verifications not only in a controlled radio environment like a laboratory, but also in an irregular radio environment that is situated outdoors. In this test, SoftBank is conducting various trials using more than 100 terminals to confirm the RAN’s stability and high connectivity, which are necessary for a carrier-grade service. Going forward, SoftBank plans to evaluate spatial multiplexing technologies, such as Massive MIMO, and AI for RAN, a technology that enables the enhancement of RAN performance with AI.

Ryuji Wakikawa, Vice President, Head of the Research Institute of Advanced Technology at SoftBank said:
“In this recent trial simulating a real-world environment with 20 cells, we successfully demonstrated the high performance of NVIDIA’s converged CPU and GPU acceleration platform and the low power consumption of Arm Neoverse V2. This software infrastructure offers a RAN platform capable of running AI applications while meeting rigorous performance requirements. This represents a significant step toward SoftBank's vision, achieved through collaboration with our partners."

Ronnie Vasishta, Senior Vice President of Telecom at NVIDIA said: “SoftBank’s live AI-RAN field trial is a huge step forward in the commercialization of this new breed of network. Using NVIDIA accelerated infrastructure and NVIDIA AI Aerial software, SoftBank demonstrated high-performance, carrier-grade 5G RAN – paving the way for a new gold standard in telecommunications network infrastructure.”

Mohamed Awad, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure Line of Business at Arm said: "This generation of AI-enabled telecommunications networks require a compute platform capable of increasing throughput while lowering power consumption. SoftBank's deployment of high-performance vRAN software on the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip server showcases the exceptional capabilities of Arm Neoverse to deliver carrier-grade stability with improved efficiency and raises the bar for what’s possible in the telecommunications industry."

About SoftBank Corp.
Guided by the SoftBank Group’s corporate philosophy, “Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone,” SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) operates telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and globally. Building on its strong business foundation, SoftBank Corp. is expanding into non-telecom fields in line with its “Beyond Carrier” growth strategy while further growing its telecom business by harnessing the power of 5G/6G, IoT, Digital Twin and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) solutions, including High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS)-based stratospheric telecommunications. While constructing AI data centers and developing homegrown LLMs specialized for the Japanese language with 1 trillion parameters, SoftBank is applying AI to enhance radio access network performance (AI-RAN) with the aim of becoming a provider of next-generation social infrastructure. To learn more, please visit https://www.softbank.jp/en/

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