Samsung is improving the quality of its mobile networks thanks to a new solution it calls Mobility Enhancer, the company announced today. As the name implies, the focus of the technology is to improve the experience for users while they're on the move, which usually causes data speeds to get worse due to instability.
Mobility Enhancer is a software solution that Samsung is applying to its Massive MIMO radios, and it improves the beamforming technology in those radios to make them more accurate for moving users. Samsung tested the technology in a field trial and found that data throughput was up by as much as 30% for a walking user. JeongHo Park, VP and Head of the Advanced System Design lab at Samsung's network division, said:
“At Samsung, our goal is to deliver the finest network solutions to mobile operators of all kinds, enabling them to provide their customers with the highest quality, most immersive mobile experience possible (...). Mobility Enhancer is one of the key advancements we are working on to innovate mobile networks, and help advance 5G performance to the next level.”
Since it's a software solution, it's easier to upgrade than if it required new hardware, and Samsung says it will deliver software updates to its Massive MIMO radios around the world this year, so those performance improvements shouldn't be too far off. While the focus is naturally on 5G, the technology should benefit 4G users, too.