SKT partners with Samsung to use AI to enhance 5G basestations

　　SKT has partnered with Samsung Electronics to use AI to improve the performance of its 5G basestations as it plans to upgrade its wireless network.

　　SK Telecom (SKT) is working with Samsung Electronics to use AI to improve its 5G basestations as it plans to upgrade its wireless network.

　　The South Korean telco announced Monday that the two companies are using AI-based 5G basestation quality optimization technology, also known as AI-RAN Parameter Recommender, to carry out the project.

　　According to SKT, the two companies recently finished developing a technology that automatically recommends optical parameters for each basestation environment, based on lessons learned from the use of AI and deep learning in prior mobile network operation tests. When applied to SKT's commercial network, the new technology was able to bring out the potential performance of 5G basestations and improve the customer experience.

　　"It is meaningful to see that we can maximize the potential performance of individual base stations by incorporating AI," said Ryu Tak-ki, head of infrastructure technology at SK Telecom, in a statement.

　　SKT explained that mobile basestations respond differently depending on geographical factors and surrounding facilities. This means the quality of 5G mobile services can vary from region to region, even if the same equipment with the same specifications is deployed uniformly throughout the network.

　　Accordingly, SKT was able to automatically derive optimal parameters to improve the experience by using deep learning, which analyzes and learns the correlation between statistical data collected from existing wireless networks and AI operational parameters, to predict various wireless environments and service characteristics.

　　The company added that AI was used to improve the quality of radio waves by automatically adjusting the output of basestation radio waves or resetting the tolerance range of radio wave retransmission when the radio wave signal is weak or data transmission errors occur due to interference.

　　Samsung Electronics' Network Parameter Optimization AI Model was used in the project to streamline the resources invested in optimizing the network, and to enable optimal management of mobile communication networks established at the cluster level.

　　"AI is a key technology for innovation in many industries, and it is playing a decisive role in the evolution of next-generation networks," Sung-Hyun Choi, head of the advanced development team for the network business division at Samsung Electronics, said in the statement.

　　Expanding the use of AI

　　SKT and Samsung Electronics are diversifying the parameters applied to the optimization AI model and extending it to the subway system, where traffic patterns change frequently, for further learning and verification.

　　In particular, the two companies are interested in using AI to optimize "beamforming," a technology that focuses the signal received by the antenna in the direction of a specific receiver for strong transmission and reception. They are also committed to continuing to improve the technology by developing features for real-time applications.

　　Meanwhile, SKT said it is expanding the use of AI to various areas of the communications network, such as "Telco Edge AI," network power reduction, spam blocking and operation automation, including basestation quality improvement.