TCL Communication offered live demonstrations of a device-to-device (D2D) communications solution with its partner ASTRI at Mobile World Congress 2016, in Barcelona.

TCL Communication and ASTRI have engaged in 5G research together since 2014 and have developed key 5G technologies, including D2D communications, ultra-dense networks and massive MIMO. The D2D technology showcased during the coming days will lead the way for completely new use cases and business models.

D2D allows mobile devices to communicate directly with one another using radio resources allocated by the network. This technology will allow, for example, public safety communication when there is infrastructure damage and proximity-based services, such as social applications, advertisements and smart communication between vehicles, triggered by user proximity.

"D2D's reliability and potential to increase the speed and amount of information processed make it a foundation technology for the upcoming 5G standard. We are enthusiastic about the promising collaboration with TCL Communication towards developing key technologies for next generation networks." said Justin Chuang, VP Communications Technologies of ASTRI.

"Device-to-device communication is one of the key 5G technologies and therefore is important to TCL's 5G Program," said Alain Lejeune, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Worldwide Mobile Device Division of TCL Communication. "We are totally committed to being an integral partner in the development of 5G, which is why we established our 5G Program, to bring to fruition new devices capabilities and being first to market."

For the live demonstration, a D2D system has been set up in the ALCATEL booth at MWC to perform a multicast transmission and UE-to-UE (user equipment to user equipment) relaying.

5G Program Achievements in 2015
TCL Communication's 5G Program has made great strides in 2015, demonstrating its commitment to the future of 5G. Confirming its open-innovation approach, TCL Communication and its partners Sequans Communications and ASTRI became active and recognized players in 5G and scalable architecture allowing TCL Communication and its partners to prototype candidate 5G technologies in real time.

In order to accelerate 5G innovation development in a collaborative way, TCL Communication joined the OpenAirInterface Software Alliance (OSA) as a strategic member together with Eurecom, Nokia-Bell Labs, Orange and Ercom. The OSA, a vibrant 5G innovation ecosystem, will develop and promote the use of an open-source 5G reference implementation.

Plans for 2016
TCL Communication is always looking for new opportunities to accelerate the development of 5G technology and devices. In the coming year, TCL Communication's 5G Program aims to strengthen its Open 5G Lab with new partners, and to secure new key resources in the wireless R&D sector. In addition, it intends to join funded research projects in China and Europe and increase its involvement in standardization bodies.