The Germany operator announced the trial is underway in the city, which is close to Frankfurt.
The first group of 5G antennas is now in operation along the city’s Mina-Rees-Straße.
The latest 5G pilot is focused on gaining insights around the installation and operation of systems for 5G as well as testing 5G applications and devices will be tested.
A total of 18 antennas are being installed at six different sites and will be operational by spring. The network will conform to the 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard and the antennas will operate on the basis of a test licence for field tests in the 3.7GHz spectrum.
The test field antennas use Massive MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology, to increase the number of transmitting and receiving antennas in place, and beamforming to improve spectrum use efficiency.
Deutsche Telekom says it is working closely with the City of Darmstadt for the trial and using commercial systems from Ericsson.
“No avoiding 5G”
The news follows Deutsche Telekom’s 5G-antenna test fields in Berlin and the Port of Hamburg.
Walter Goldenits, Chief Technology Officer at Telekom Deutschland, said: “”Our test fields are enabling us now, prior to the market launch of 5G, to gain important experience with 5G.
“We are happy to see that Darmstadt, the Digital City, has joined Berlin and Hamburg in pioneering this new communications standard. We plan to carry out additional tests this year. After all, there will be no avoiding 5G in 2019.”
Stefan Koetz, CEO of Ericsson GmbH, added: “The Ericsson Radio System portfolio not only supports single RAN technology but is also designed for 5G applications.”