Companies achieve industry first DAPS handover for 5G NR

MediaTek inc. and Anritsu Corporation offer the first DAPS handover for 5G New Radio (NR). It has been verified with a device possessing the MediaTek M80 5G modem and Anritsu’s MT8000A Radio Communication Test Station with RTD application software.

The 5G NR standard is growing beyond the traditional eMBB to support use cases for Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC). URLLC targets latency of 1ms or lower and reliability of above 99.999%, and these targets must be sustained through the handover of mobile terminals over cells. The current Handover procedures have a Handover Interruption Time (HIT) of 30ms-60ms, through which a mobile terminal cannot transmit or receive user data. DAPS handover has been introduced in 3GPP Release 16 to shorten the HIT to as close to zero ms as possible. DAPS permits a mobile terminal to receive and transmit data simultaneously to source and target cells in a handover providing seamless data continuity.

“The ongoing collaboration of MediaTek and Anritsu continues to strengthen with this milestone achievement. Anritsu’s industry-leading test platforms directly benefit our R&D activities, enabling us to continue creating technology-leading 5G modems,” said JS Pan, general manager of Wireless Communication Technology at MediaTek.

“We have achieved yet another important industry milestone and are looking forward to our continued partnership with MediaTek to bring advanced 5G use cases to market,” said Takeshi Shima, president, Anritsu Corporation.