October 21, 2022
Fraunhofer HHI and LG Electronics (LG) have reaffirmed their global leadership in mobile network technology, successfully testing the wireless transmission and reception of 6G sub-terahertz (sub-THz) data – at a frequency range of 155 to 175 GHz – over a distance of 320 meters outdoors.
The milestone, achieved on September 7, 2022 at Fraunhofer HHI in Berlin represents a significant step toward commercializing 6G sub-THz in both indoor and outdoor urban areas since the reference cell coverage of base stations for urban macro cells is a distance of approximately 250 meters outdoors. It is also a major jump from August last year, when the partners proved they could transfer 6G sub-THz data over a distance of 100 meters outdoors.
At Fraunhofer HHI the mm-Wave group from the “Wireless Networks” department with their project partner Fraunhofer IAF were responsible for the groundbreaking broadband point-to-point sub-THz transmission. The test proved the viability of the sub-THz solution to deliver the enormous throughput promised by 6G by experimental evidence.
In addition to the outdoor range test, Fraunhofer HHI’s mm-Wave team developed a novel sub-THz analog beamforming solution at the transmitting and receiving sides. This solution was utilized to demonstrate indoor beam acquisition and pairing. The digital signal processing for the beam acquisition procedure resulted from a cross-collaboration among different reseach groups from the WN department. The demonstration outcome sets a world-class milestone in mobilizing the sub-THz beam to support extremely high throughput over the sub-THz link for mobile scenarios.
Used in the recent demonstration, Fraunhofer HHI’s multi-channel power amplifier has an output of more than 20dBm, an increase of over 5dBm from the solution LG, Fraunhofer HHI & IAF deployed in the previous trial. Also utilized was a receiver low-noise amplifier that minimizes noise generation for reception signal. These new technologies have been integrated into LG’s latest module design, which has been highly capable of future IC (Integrated Circuit) fabrication to help ease the path towards future commercialization.