Nokia, British Telecom (BT) and Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek have successfully completed trials of 5G reduced capability (redcap) technology with redcap devices.

The trial, which took place at BT’s Adastral Park site, used Nokia’s AirScale RAN portfolio, BT mobile operator EE’s 5G standalone (SA) network and MediaTek’s redcap testing platform.

Redcap is a technology introduced in 3GPP Release 17 that brings 5G to devices that do not require its full capabilities. It has the potential to expand the IoT ecosystem and accelerate its deployment within the industry. BT is evaluating redcap to support new 5G use cases that could benefit both EE’s business and consumer customer bases.

5G devices such as smartphones often have complex hardware and power-hungry features that leads to higher cost, size and power consumption. Redcap technology focuses on simplifying 5G devices, particularly small IoT devices such as wearables or health trackers for consumers as well as ruggedised routers, and environmental or other condition-based monitoring sensors. These devices have less demand for battery life and lower bandwidth requirements.

Redcap ensures they maintain performance and optimises their power efficiency. Nokia has played a pivotal role in advancing redcap IoT functionality together with the telecommunications industry.

“The introduction of redcap will unlock new 5G opportunities for many industries, with potentially billions of new devices connected with 5G,” said Phil Siveter, CEO for Nokia (www.nokia.com) in the UK. “Our field tests with BT Group show that Nokia 5G standalone networks are ready to support redcap devices.”

Greg McCall, chief networks officer at BT (www.bt.com), added: “This trial with Nokia demonstrates the potential of redcap technology in unlocking a new wave of innovation within the 5G services ecosystem. This is especially the case as we move towards the arrival of 5G SA, bringing with it enhanced reliability, responsiveness, security and speed, which through 5G redcap promises to benefit a host of new IoT devices and use cases.”

And Robert Moffat, deputy director at MediaTek (www.mediatek.com), said: “Our collaboration with Nokia and BT Group for this trial of 5G redcap technology aligns with MediaTek’s commitment to driving innovation and expanding the potential of 5G SA to include a wider ecosystem of devices and use cases.”