Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has built a prototype wireless unit that incorporates inter-subarray coding technology that will allow for high-speed transmissions in excess of 10 Gbps. The prototype will be used to enable 5G mobile wireless base stations and access points.
Fujitsu says the prototype is able to achieve these speeds while consuming the same power as Wi-Fi, and has already been successful in transmitting signals simultaneously to multiple devices. The prototype is centered on technology that uses the millimeter waveband and multiple antenna elements to transmit signals as beams to each individual device. Fujitsu plans to offer the technology in practical implementations beginning around 2020.
Fujitsu’s prototype array antenna board is one step toward enabling high-speed transmissions for 5G mobile wireless base stations and access points. Source: Fujitsu Fujitsu says hybrid beamforming is being developed to reduce the number of circuits in designs by controlling both digital and analog circuits. But this method has issues as interference occurs when sending signals to multiple devices, resulting in reduced transmission rates. Fujitsu says its prototype can reduce this interference and limit the reduce transmission speed while still achieving low-power consumption.
How They Did It
Fujitsu discovered, with an interleaved-type device, which is a type of hybrid beamforming, there is increased spacing between antenna elements within a subarray—a collection of antenna elements connected to one D/A circuit—increasing the subarray’s area. When the antenna’s range is spread out, the beam becomes narrower and an undesired emission called a grating lobe can occur.
Fujitsu has developed an interleaved hybrid beamforming prototype with inter-subarray coding in the 60 GHz band, and has confirmed the generation of a narrow multiplexed beam capable of ultra-high-speed transmissions at 10 Gbps.
This type of speed will be necessary because wireless-data-communications traffic volume has been doubling every year, and is predicted to be 1,000 times greater by 2020 than it was in 2010.
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