Telecom
NEC develops compact millimeter-wave distributed antenna for Beyond 5G/6G

NEC develops compact millimeter-wave distributed antenna for Beyond 5G/6G

NEC Corporation has successfully developed and demonstrated a radio-over-fiber system with a 1-bit fiber transmission method making it possible to affordably build stable millimeter-wave communication networks for Beyond 5G/6G. By utilizing this method, high-frequency analog signals can be transmitted using an inexpensive electrical-to-optical converter for general-purpose digital communications, thereby enabling the realization of a compact distributed antenna unit at low cost.

As a result, a stable millimeter-wave communication environment can be inexpensively achieved in high-rise buildings, underground malls, factories, railways, indoor facilities, and other obstacle-laden environments.

NEC will be presenting its results at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS2024) starting on June 16 (local time) in Washington, D.C.

Development background
High-speed wireless communications leveraging millimeter-wave technology are expected to be a key technology for Beyond 5G/6G. In particular, since approximately 80% of mobile communication traffic occurs indoors, millimeter-wave is being considered as an indoor solution.

However, since there is significant propagation loss and high linearity in the millimeter-wave frequency band, it is imperative to ensure line of sight between base stations and terminals to achieve sufficient quality of service (QoS). While dense installation of distributed antenna units (DA) for direct transmission and reception of data with terminals and avoiding obstacles is known to be effective in resolving these issues, the size, power consumption, and cost of installing the required number of DA have proven to be major issues.

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