Virgin Media Business and Sub10 Systems have completed a live backhaul small cell trial to show the benefits of millimetre wave technology.
The trial involved Sub10’s Liberator-V320, a wireless Ethernet link, which operates in the 60 GHz frequency and guarantees rates of 320 Mbps.
Sub10 Systems is a manufacturer of point-to-point millimetre wave radio links.
The experiment, which was conducted in Leeds, UK, aims to provide a reliable high speed connection using wireless backhaul in the 60 GHz band. Links were installed on three lamp posts in tough-to-reach areas at street level, over a distance of 200 metres. The effects of weather, multipath and passing vehicles were monitored by a weather station and cameras during the trial.
All three links remained stable over the course of the one-month trial, the operator said in a statement.
Bruce Girdlestone, senior business development manager at Virgin Media Business, said: “To test the full potential of the 60 gigahertz frequency, we deliberately set up the trial in an environment that was highly populated and had a high density of infrastructure, adding important variables to our test. We used Sub10’s Liberator V-320 because of its bandwidth capabilities, its compact size and its flexibility, which makes it suitable for backhaul communications.”
60 GHz is a part of the millimetre wave radio technology. The band is essentially undeveloped but available for use in a broad range of new products and services, including high-speed, point-to-point wireless local area networks and broadband internet access.
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