Applications refers to the new capabilities of software-defined beamformers, such as intelligent beam management. The vision of Intelligent Beam Management System (IBMS) is to help network operators maximize spectral efficiency, capacity and coverage by using software to proactively place radio power where and when subscriber demand requires. This way, mobile operators can respond to and anticipate the challenge of extreme non-uniformity in subscriber demand, e.g., location, time, subscriber and application. IBMS enhances traditional RAN optimization processes like SON by leveraging the real-time capabilities of software defined antennas (SDA); in particular, Pivotal’s holographic beamformer. IBMS gives network operators an unprecedented opportunity to optimize a physical layer element, the antenna, at electronic speed. This results in greater control in the service of higher speed, capacity and spectral efficiency.
Pivotal believes that there will be high demand among network operators worldwide for a cloud-based, physical layer-centric, ML-enabled (machine learning) service that, in concert with their own network management operations, leverages the SDA’s ability to configure, optimize and heal at sub-second speed. When MNOs can bring network-slicing down to the radio, they can start offering truly differentiated services, and benefit by higher spectrum efficiency, better performance, and lower costs.
An SDA network provides a level of flexibility in the radio frequency coverage never seen before. IBMS is based on the intricate knowledge of the physics of Holographic Beam Forming (HBF). Who better to build a system to help operators intelligently manage such a network than the inventors of HBF?