Summary

SRG just completed its 58th 5G benchmark study. For this endeavor, we tested the AT&T Open RAN deployment in Dallas, TX, which consisted of 1Finity 5G radios (RUs), Ericsson 5G radios (RUs), and Ericsson DUs, all under the umbrella of an Ericsson macro network. We used an unlocked Galaxy S23 smartphone to collect the data.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Our Thanks. We did this study with the support of Accuver (XCAL5 and XCAP) and Keysight Technologies (Umetrix Data). We used XCAL5 to collect chipset data and we used XCAP to post process and analyze the logs. We used Umetrix Data to generate the data traffic, which used extended-length full-buffer downlink or uplink UDP traffic.

The Layout. AT&T is using 1Finity 5G radios in small cells, supporting either Band n77 (TDD) or Band n66 (FDD). There are also Ericsson small cells in the two areas where we did the tests. All small cells, including the small cells with a 1Finity 5G radio, have an Ericsson LTE radio.

Our Analysis. We looked at our standard performance metrics, including throughput / RB normalized throughput and MCS/MIMO layers as a function of RSRP and SINR. For the uplink tests, we analyzed UE-related metrics focused on transmitter power. We also included an analysis of handover performance between cells, not to mention resource block / slot utilization. Since we had PCI information for each cell configuration, we were able to analyze each vendor’s small cell performance, in addition to the Ericsson macro cells.

The Results. Setting aside a few important caveats, we found that the 1Finity 5G radios performed on par with the Ericsson 5G radios. We identified three important actions which will be needed prior to larger scale deployments later this year. These steps are on the AT&T roadmap with their vendors.