AT&T Labs claims first 5G RedCap data connection in the US

U.S. carrier AT&T recently completed what it claims to be the first 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap) data call in the U.S. The telco said that the RedCap data call was made in both the company’s lab and in the field on a live 5G Standalone (SA) network.

“This is critical for the continued growth of IoT. IoT devices have evolved alongside the development of mobile communication technologies. Each generation has brought improvements in speed, capacity, and functionality, enabling new IoT applications and use cases,” said Jason Sikes, AVP of device architecture at AT&T.

“LTE-M will continue to support the LPWA use cases, while 5G will support the high complexity use cases. Between these is 5G RedCap, which will support mid-tier IoT use cases. For lower-cost, lower-complexity IoT devices that do not need standard 5G NR but can benefit from higher bandwidth and lower latency capabilities than what LTE-M currently offers, RedCap is the way to go,” he added.

RedCap, sometimes referred to as NR Light, is a reduced set of 5G capabilities intended for devices like wearables and low-cost hotspots that have low battery consumption, lower costs and lower bandwidth requirements. Introduced with 3GPP Release 17, 5G RedCap is designed for devices currently served by LTE CAT-4 but provides equivalent or better in performance with up to 150 Mbps theoretical maximum downlink throughput. This technology helps reduce the complexity, cost and size of 5G devices.

“These upgrades will bring 5G to products and applications full-featured 5G technologies are unable to serve like wearable devices such as smartwatches and AR glasses, as well as IoT devices for healthcare, asset tracking, smart home systems, fleet management and more,” Sikes said.

AT&T said it worked with Nokia and MediaTek on this testing. AT&T tested 5G RedCap on MediaTek’s RedCap platform connected to a 5G SA network built with Nokia AirScale.

AT&T noted it is working with the ecosystem for additional advanced 3GPP power saving features for 5G RedCap, including wake up signal (WUS), early paging indication (PEI) and PDCCH monitoring adaption.

“Although it’s called reduced capability, 5G RedCap still takes advantage of 5G network features giving IoT devices enhanced functionality and user experience,” Sikes said.

Swedish vendor Ericsson recently announced a radio access network (RAN) software upgrade for standalone 5G NR (5G SA) systems which offers RedCap 5G features to lower hardware complexity, extend battery life, and support a range of mostly-IoT based use cases, notably involving wearables, video monitoring equipment, and industrial sensors. The new software solution will be available from November 2023.

Ericsson said that RedCap will support leaner procedures for optimizing device energy consumption and enable wearables that are currently only available with LTE devices.

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