Deutsche Telekom and Huawei have completed what they boasted as the first multi-cell mmWave field test of 5G in the 73GHz band.
The German operator said the tests, held at its Bonn campus, took place in a variety of real-world conditions.
It used MIMO technology with adaptive beamforming and beamtracking techniques to hit multi-gigabit per second data transfer in both mobile and stationary scenarios and line of sight and non-line of sight environments across 1GHz of bandwidth. The two companies tested how the band could be used to penetrate glass, foliage and connect indoor office contexts.
The goal of the test was to try and limit the high propagation loss of mmWave signals, which could limit its coverage, as well as exploring how narrow and directional beams could focus the transmission power of the waves.
Deutsche Telekom said mmWave could be used to deploy fixed-wireless access, a commonly cited technology at this year’s Mobile World Congress, indoor and outdoor small cells that would power hotspots or “smart” offices, as well as small cell backhaul.
Work on frequencies under 100GHz is part of 3GPP Release 16, which is expected to be completed in December 2019.
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Alex Jinsung Choi, Senior Vice President Research and Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom, said: “Next generation services such as 3D immersive applications, mobile cloud service, gaming and social-networking applications require massive capacity and higher data rates. The use of higher range millimetre-wave spectrum bands is one of the enabling technologies to deliver the capacity increases and massive data rates required for 5G enhanced Mobile Broadband with massive data rates and ultra-fast experience.
“The verification of these features in our world’s first multi-cell 5G high mmWave field tests will point out the future direction for the industry’s ultra-high broadband experience for customers in both indoor scenarios as well as in extremely crowded areas. The successful trial result opens up a new door for applications and deployments of 5G mmWave.”