Innovations gallery

The 5G era has brought a significant increase in uplink traffic requirements compared to 4G, driven by higher data volumes.

Nokia’s 5G uplink innovations optimize performance, coverage, speed and reliability to deliver a premium user experience, while future-proofing the network for evolving demands. 

Our solutions enable faster uploads, higher quality video calls, and efficiently tackle growing AI-generated traffic. Some of the key innovations include:

• Dynamic Uplink Waveform, which enables switching between uplink waveforms during operation to enhance both performance and efficiency.
• Advanced multi-antenna technology, such as uplink MIMO and uplink Tx switching, significantly boosting uplink capacity.

Smarter uplink. Seamless performance.

The growing demands of IoT and smart city applications mean more devices are connecting to the network at the same time while requiring greater volumes of data.

Nokia has been a key contributor to developing 5G Massive MIMO, a technology that uses dozens or even hundreds of antennas at the base station to send multiple focused beams of data directly to many users at the same time. This delivers reliable connections, greater coverage, and superior data speeds in busy environments. Our fundamental contributions include:

• Scalable framework for arbitrary antenna array architectures enabling flexible antenna configurations to suit diverse deployment scenarios.
• Multi-TRP (Transmission Reception Point) mechanisms allowing devices to be served by multiple transmission points, significantly boosting coverage, reliability, and user experience, especially at cell edges and in challenging radio conditions.

Building the smart network infrastructure smart cities demand.

Nokia’s 5G mobility solutions are enhancing network coverage and reliability in sectors such as transportation, industry, public safety, and digital experiences.  

Our innovations minimize service interruptions and deliver high performance, ensuring seamless handovers for high-velocity transport and reliable links for connected vehicles across cell boundaries. Network reliability is increased meeting the stringent requirements of mission-critical and industrial applications. For urban IoT environments, advanced mobility management provides assured connectivity for vast numbers of low-energy devices, including sensors and wearables, supporting diverse use cases like health monitoring and environmental sensing.

Next-gen applications demand next-level reliability.

The digitalization of industries and massive device connectivity in the 5G era introduce new security challenges beyond 3G and 4G, demanding robust protection for sensitive data.

Nokia has played a key role in defining 5G security through the development and standardization of 5G Authentication and Key Agreement (5G AKA) protocol. This is the primary authentication and key-management mechanism between a User Equipment (UE) and the 5G system. This evolution of AKA protocols addresses new 5G security and privacy challenges, delivering stronger resistance to a broader spectrum of attacks.  

Building a secure foundation for the connected future.

Imagine if downloading a three-hour movie in 4K took more than 15 days. That’s why video compression – or video coding –  is one of the most essential technologies to modern life. 

Video coding takes large and uncompressed video data that is too big to stream on devices or store in networks and reduces the size of the files, sometimes by more than 1000 times. The result? Smaller files that can be easily streamed, shared, or stored while retaining picture quality.

Nokia’s contribution to market-adopted video coding standards, from H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC to H.266/VVC, has been instrumental.

Smaller files. Bigger experiences.

When you jump to a specific point in a video, continue watching it later, or join a conference call after it has started, Nokia has played a part in making that possible.

We have been at the forefront of developing video coding standards that define methods for compressing and decompressing video data. This includes innovations in random access, which requires a starting point that doesn’t depend on previous frames, allowing users to fast-forward video.  

Seamless video. Decades in the making.

From sports to gaming, live streaming is a massive, growing industry delivering real-time video content.

Nokia’s technology has accelerated what’s possible in live streaming, helping convert device-independent content into device-specific content based on the display device’s features, allowing millions to stream live content seamlessly and without interruption. The same technology can help optimize your content when streaming video on demand.

Every device. Every moment. In real time.

Video-on-demand platforms host millions of hours of content. Add in traditional broadcasters and social media platforms, and there is more content to choose from than ever before. This poses a very modern challenge: deciding what to watch with so many choices.

Nokia's content recommendation technology improves the user experience by suggesting a TV show or movie to viewers based on their behavior and viewing characteristics. Less time scrolling, more time watching.

Smarter recommendations for better viewing.

Since the turn of the century, Nokia's contributions to audio codecs – which compress audio signals for quality transmission to the user – have improved the naturalness and intelligibility of audio, including voice calls.

Now, our Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) codec is further advancing audio quality, delivering an even more immersive, vivid experience. IVAS also looks to the future, powering voice and audio across mobile networks and 5G devices, including multi-microphone smartphones and AR glasses, while on the move.

Building the audio foundation for tomorrow's devices. Discover more about Nokia's audio coding technologies.

When data has to be retransmitted, it clogs the network, consuming extra bandwidth, increasing latency, and reducing overall network efficiency.

Nokia’s improvements to Low‑Density Parity‑Check (LDPC) coding technology provide instantaneous error correction, enabling data to be delivered correctly the first time rather than requiring retransmission. Reducing retransmissions yields several secondary benefits, including faster speeds, more stable connections in busy environments, and battery savings.

Faster, more reliable connections with less wasted energy.

As anyone who has ever tried printing or screencasting without a central Wi-Fi network will know, frustrations can quickly mount up.

Nokia’s contributions to Wi-Fi Direct© help two devices to connect directly to each other over Wi-Fi without a central router. Wi-Fi Direct© delivers higher throughput and more stable links for large transfers than Bluetooth, so you can share, cast, stream, and print at high speed and range.  

Direct connections when you need them most.