Samsung 5G development "several hundred times faster" than LTE

LTE may only be wiping its feet on the proverbial doormat, and yet Samsung has already announced a significant breakthrough in the development of 5G mobile communications. The company says this will pave the way for next-generation mobile networks offering transmission speeds in the tens of gigabits per second – hundreds of times faster than LTE.

Samsung Electronics has developed an adaptive array transceiver capable of transmitting data at a rate of 1.056 Gbit/s at a range of up to 2 km (1.2 miles) in the tricky millimeter waveband. The millimeter band, or extremely high frequency band, is not normally associated with long-distance communications due to signal attenuation in the atmosphere and in rainfall.

At 28 GHz, Samsung's technology is operating just outside of the band normally considered the millimeter band, which ranges from 30 to 300 GHz. At these frequencies, electromagnetic radiation has wavelength of between 1 and 10 mm, hence the name. The millimeter band has long been recognized as offering the potential bandwidth to revolutionize telecommunications, with the broader range of frequencies available that would allow such high bandwidths at the commercial scale. The same principle applies here.

Samsung says that its 64-antennae transceiver, which transmitted data at 1.056 Gbit/s, "can be a viable solution for overcoming the radio propagation loss at millimeter-wave bands," and would allow the transmission of 3D films and games, ultra HD video and, intriguingly, "remote medical services."

The company predicts that 5G technologies may not be very far away, citing the European Commission's investment to commercialize them by 2020. 

source:Internet

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Wi-Fi latest Standards -802.11n

Wi-Fi Alliance logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)802.11n:
IEEE released the first Wi-Fi standard in 1997 and has since adopted 802.11a, b, g, and n versions. 802.11n, approved in 2009, operates in the 2.4- and 5-GHz frequency bands and offers a theoretical maximum throughput of 150 Mbits per second per data stream.

Although IEEE 802.11n was released more than two years ago, Wi-Fi equipment has not advanced enough to use all of the approach’s capabilities.

Multiple data streams
802.11n is designed to work with multiple-input, multiple-output technology. MIMO increases throughput by using multiple antennas on both transmitters and receivers, enabling more than one data stream.
IEEE 802.11n allows up to four data streams at a time by enabling the use of four antennas on the transmitter and four on the receiver, a configuration known as 4 × 4. This would yield a theoretical maximum data rate of 600 Mbps per chip (150 Mbps per data stream), and increase the maximum transmission range.

Vendors such as Qualcomm have announced chips that enable 4 × 4 but haven’t shipped any products yet, noted Craig Mathias, founder of the Farpoint Group, a wireless communications advisory firm.

Numerous vendors, such as Hewlett-Packard, have released 3 × 3 systems already, though, for use in products such as APs. These chips let the APs either offer 50 percent more bandwidth or handle 50 percent
more clients at the same bandwidth than products offering just two data streams.

Beam forming
802.11n enables Wi-Fi to use beam forming to improve performance. With this technique, the Wi-Fi infrastructure sends out multiple signals and analyzes client feedback to determine the optimal path that signals should take to reach the client. It then shapes the signal beam appropriately.
Vendors are selling equipment for large corporations that use beam forming, said Mathias, but the approaches are typically proprietary.

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Tutorial: Microwave Link Planning - Part 1: Basics

Microwave links generally operate between frequencies of 2 and 58 GHz. Initially analogue links were used, but now far superior digital microwave links are used. Digital microwave links have many advantages over the analogue microwave links, some of which are:

·         high tolerance against interference;

·         high tolerance against deep fading;

·         high signal carrying capacity ranging from 2 to 155 Mbps;

·         high frequency range (2–58 GHz);

·         easy, rapid (and hence economical) installations.

As the frequency increases, the length of the link decreases. Due to the high frequency range (2–58GHz), the microwave links can be classified into three main categories:

(a) Long haul

(b) Medium haul

(c) Short haul

Long Haul

The frequency of operation of these links is usually 2–10 GHz. In the best of climatic conditions and

frequency of operation, the distance covered by the links could range from 80 km to 45 km. These links

are affected by multipath fading (explained later).

Frequency band 2 GHz

·         Maximum path length 80 km

·         Multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters up to 370 cm for an antenna gain of 36 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

Frequency band 7 GHz

·         Maximum path length about 50 km

·         Multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters up to 370 cm for an antenna gain of 46.8 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

Frequency band 10 GHz

·         Maximum path length about 45 km

·         Multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters 60–120 cm for a gain range of 34–40 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

Medium and Short Haul

The frequency of operation of these links is usually from 11 GHz to 23 GHz. Depending upon the climatic

conditions and frequency of operation, the hop length can vary between 40 km and 20 km. These links

are also affected by multipath fading and rain fading.

Frequency band 13 GHz

·         Maximum path length about 40 km

·         Multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters 60–120 cm for a gain range of 36.4–42.4 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

Frequency band 15 GHz

·         Maximum path length about 35 km

·         Multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters 60–120 cm for a gain range of 38–44 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

Frequency band 18 GHz

·         Maximum path length 20 km

·         Rain and multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters 60–180 cm for a gain range of 39–49 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

·         Atmospheric attenuation 0.1 dB/km.

·         Attenuation due to rain about 1 dB/km at a rain rate of 20 mm/h

Frequency band 23 GHz

·         Maximum path length about 18 km

·         Rain and multipath fading

·         Antenna diameters 30–120 cm gain for a gain range of 35.5–47.3 dB

·         Both vertical and horizontal polarisations used

·         Atmospheric attenuation 0.1 dB/km

·         Attenuation due to rain about 3 dB/km at a rain rate of 20 mm/h

Before an into explanation is given of various factors that affect the performance of the microwave

links, an attempt will be made to explain the fundamentals of functioning of microwave links.

Next : What is Microwave Link

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