QandA_14 JUN 2023.pdf

N0017323QKN03

Questions and Answers

Date: 6/14/2023

Question 1:

Section 2 – If the goal is to conduct SA testing on mmWave, is it possible to consider NR Dual Connectivity which has been standardized with products available now and allows for both Anchor band in FR1 and mmWave FR2 to both be on Stand-alone core with no LTE components in the system.

Answer 1:

We did consider EN-DC, however the feedback we received in our first RFI stated that there were no UE’s available that would support this deployment. We would consider NR-DC as an option.

Question 2:

Section 3.1.3.1.4 – Is there a preferred frequency for the LTE anchor carrier that NRL have access to? If no, is CBRS / B48 an acceptable anchor carrier to use?

Answer 2:

We have no preferred band for the LTE anchor. The only requirement is that the supplied UE’s are able to support the LTE Anchor as well as the NR bands.

Question 3:

Section 3 – For building B, Does NRL plan to house BB in an outdoor enclosure or is it required to be indoors? Both options are possible, just looking for direction.

Answer 3:

Building B is expected to be an outdoor deployment. The final location has not been determined yet. The deployment must support the GFE channel emulator being placed inline with the FR1 BBU and antennas. There is a possibility of the FR1 BBU being indoor with the FR1 antennas, LTE Anchor, and FR2 Antenna/BBU mounted outdoors.

Question 4:

Section 3 – UE requirements / licenses are dependent on Keysight NEMO interface which is not common knowledge/known. Is there a specific device type/model that is used or proposed by Keysight because of prior experience?

Answer 4:

Keysight NEMO is an industry standard drive test tool. The government has purchased the licensing to support any UE that uses a Qualcomm chipset or a Samsung Chipset which should cover 90% of the available UE’s (Samsung, Nokia, LG, HTC, Motorola, Google, OnePlus, Asus, Sony,…). If you choose to supply a solution that only UE’s from Apple can support the available bands chosen – then you must also supply the NEMO Apple chipset drivers.

Question 5:

Section 3.1.4.1 – Massive MIMO radios are defined to support 16 or more Tx and Rx antenna elements. Is that option preferred, or NRL only requires maximum 8 MIMO beams (i.e. 8 Tx and Rx antenna elements)?

Answer 5:

NRL would like to support as many MIMO beams as possible. In FR1, to support compatibility with our 64-Channel Channel emulator, upto an 8x8 – 64 element antenna can be fully supported. If a 16x16 antenna is supplied we could work with it, but it would only be partially supportable by our channel emulator.

Question 6:

Section 3.1.4.3 – For clarify, maximum BW required is: LTE Anchor band (10 MHz?) + 4 CC of up to 100 MHz of FR1 (400 MHz) + 4cc of up to 100 MHz of B260 (400 MHz) + 4cc of up to 100 MHz of FR2 <30 GHz (400 MHz)?

Answer 6:

No Maximum BW is specified for LTE Anchor – whatever is needed to allow the network to function. Refer to the revised SOW Section 3.3.1.2 and 3.3.2.2 for the revised Threshold and Objective requirements for FR1 and FR2.

Question 7:

Section 3.1.5 - Confirming that Digital beam forming would be required for FR1 only?

Answer 7:

NRL intends to study beamforming in both FR1 and FR2. Digital beamforming is desirable in FR1 while hybrid beamforming may be more implementable in FR2. Please describe in your response the type of beamforming that will be supplied in both FR1 and FR2.

Question 8:

Section 3.1.5 – Confirming that Use of channel emulator only applicable to FR1 only where radio and antenna can be separated and not applicable to FR2. Is that correct?

Answer 8:

The channel emulator is only applicable to FR1

Question 9:

Section 3.1.5.2/3.1.5.3 – Typical antennas do not provide rectangular coverage (usually only 120 degrees for a 3 sector solution). Would that be acceptable or is it required to split that sector into two to provide 180 degree coverage?

Answer 9:

The intention is to provide coverage to the rectangular area shown in 3.1.5.3, The constraint is that the antennas need to be mounted to a building. If you change the location of the antennas to the building in the Northwest (Top Left) corner of the rectangle you can provide a single sector that should cover the region. While additional sectors are welcome to provide coverage of the area, the requirement is that at least 1 sector be provided with the projected coverage area specified in the proposal response.

Question 10:

Section 3.1.3.1.3 – inter band FR2 to FR2 handoffs are not supported in today’s commercial networks. Did NRL confirm that this requirement is attainable on commercial devices?

Answer 10:

See the revised SOW and the Q&A response from 8 Jun 23. This requirement has been deleted.

(End of Q&A)