At Qualcomm Technologies, we have been driving the advancement of cellular air
interface designs for many decades. Looking forward to 5G Advanced and on the path to 6G,
We continue to push technology boundaries on complex RF and massive MIMO antenna designs
that can deliver new level of performance efficiency and flexibility. In this video, you
will see three of our most advanced technology demonstrations in this area of research.
Building on last year's subband half duplex demonstration, we have evolved our over-the-air
5G standalone test network in San Diego to support subband full duplex communication, where a base
station can simultaneously transmit and receive in the same spectrum band, while coexisting with
neighboring half duplex cells. Here we can see our test network operating in the 3.5 Gigahertz band
with 100 Megahertz bandwidth. It supports macro base stations with advanced multi-user massive
MIMO, along with 5G NextGen core and 5G on our mobile test devices based on the Snapdragon 5G
Modem-RF system. For this demonstration, we have an uplink-centric device connected to the base
station from more than 800 meters away, and it is being served with 20 Megahertz of the total
bandwidth. When a downlink centric device is added to the system with subband full duplex enabled,
it is served by the same base station in the same time slot. Subband full duplex divides the total
system bandwidth into the downlink and uplink subbands of 80 and 20 Megahertz, respectively. They are
spatially separated in the base station antenna panel design to further suppress self-interference.
As shown here, the base station is transmitting and receiving data in the same slot,
while the cross-link interference is mitigated by advanced algorithms. In conclusion, subband full
duplex enables flexible wide-area deployments that can improve system capacity latency and efficiency.
Our R&D takes us another step closer to single frequency full duplex on the path to 6G.
As 5G networks connect more devices and expand to new types of deployment, the demand for
spectrum is also growing rapidly, while our system innovations continue to push spectral efficiency
to new heights, we are also working on foundational technologies that can unlock new spectrum bands.
So far, we have expanded 5G support to mid-band in the sub-7 Gigahertz range and millimeter wave,
but there exists a remarkable opportunity in the spectrum bands in between, from 7 Gigahertz up to
24 Gigahertz. It is a new spectrum frontier that can offer a good balance of bandwidth and coverage.
In this demonstration, we will show the MIMO innovations that can make this band viable
for wide area mobile communication. In the baseline case, we see the 5G wide area network
operating in the 3.5 Gigahertz span over 100 Megahertz bandwidth.
The massive MIMO antenna has a total of 256 elements with 64 digital ports. Now,
we switch the network to operate at 13 Gigahertz over 500 Megahertz bandwidth, utilizing the exact
same cell sites. To deliver comparable wide-area coverage, we utilize a Giga-MIMO antenna panel with
4096 elements and 256 digital ports. The overall size is almost the same as the 3.5 Gigahertz panel
due to the smaller wavelength. As shown in the charts, we can achieve significantly improved
system throughput in our simulation, thanks to the wider bandwidth and enhanced MIMO capabilities.
In conclusion, Giga-MIMO brings forward the best of wideband millimeter wave and wide-area
sub-7 Gigahertz. It is expected to unlock the new upper mid-band for wide-area coverage,
expanded capacity, and better positioning and sensing performance.
Today, I am very excited to show you our pioneering research in sub-terahertz communication.
Spectrum is a limited resource and the lifeblood for wireless communication. To enable the path
towards 6G, we made spectrum expansion towards terahertz as one of our key research vectors.
in today's demonstration we will be operating at 145 GHz over a 7.5 GHz wide band.
There are challenges when moving up to sub-Terahertz frequency bands.
For example, the radio signal attenuates faster with distance. To address this, we will be using
a similar solution as in millimeter wave by directing the radio signal into a narrow beam.
we will be using an innovative lensed MIMO architecture in a 4x4 configuration.
Like optical transmission, we use a lens to concentrate the RF energy into a precise beam.
In our first setup we are communicating indoors in one of our office corridors. We start at a
short distance and as we can see, we are easily achieving over 100 Gbps speeds.
If we increase the distance to 30 meters, we can still maintain very high throughput speeds.
In our second scenario we are operating at a longer distances.
Again, we start at a short distance achieving speeds above 100 Gbps.
Even as we increase the distance to 60 meters we can maintain very high throughput.
Here you can see that if someone walks in the path of the radio signal, the throughput speeds
drop, which is expected at this spectrum band. As we have seen in this over-the-air demonstration,
sub terahertz communication can provide speeds in the 100s of gigabit-per-second throughputs.
We are continuing our research to push throughputs towards the terabit-per-second era while increasing
coverage supporting mobility and improving power efficiencies, so please stay tuned!