Flexi-DAS aims to develop highly flexible Distributed Antenna System (DAS) radio heads/units based on field-programmable flexible radio chipsets and Radio Frequency Identification cards. It also aims to test Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) that might be reflective (e.g. as those placed on walls) or transmissive (e.g. as those placed on windows) to steer the radio signals and cover difficult to reach areas.
The project will take a network management system and Open RAN “RAN Intelligent Controller” (RIC), and create interfaces from those to the RIS and DAS. This will allow the network management system and RIC to to receive status and other information from the RIS and DAS, and control them.
It will automate the control of the RIS and DAS in 5G provisioning, with the objective of minimising energy consumption, while satisfying user traffic and application demands. This automation is based on artificial intelligence developed within the project.
All of the above will be developed in the UK, by UK companies and a UK university.
Flexi-DAS places a strong emphasis on relevance to use cases and market potentials, and the need to maximise scalability through the consideration of capabilities such as neutral hosting. With that in mind, it encompasses a key operator and a neutral host pioneer to contribute to the use cases, technologies development and testing.
Flexi-DAS: Low Energy 5G DAS and RIS
• Reduced energy consumption for DAS deployments
• Direct and control service availability to down user granularity
• Provide needed 5G coverage at lower cost
• Low solution TCO with fast and easy implementation
• World’s first reflective and transmissive RI
