LG Electronics (LG) has successfully demonstrated wireless 6G terahertz (THz) data transmission and reception at a distance of 100 meters outdoors. This achievement was achieved on 13 July in collaboration with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest applied research laboratory, between the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) and the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany.
Because 6G THz is short-range and loses power during transmission and reception between antennas, one of the biggest challenges in developing wireless 6G technology has been the need for power amplification to provide a stable signal at ultra-wideband frequencies. The power amplifier, developed by LG, the Fraunhofer HHI and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF), has been critical to the success of this latest experiment.
The power amplifier is able to generate a stable signal up to 15dBm in the frequency range from 155 to 175 GHz. LG has also successfully demonstrated adaptive beam technology that changes the direction of the signal according to changes in channel and receiver position, as well as high-gain antenna switching that combines the output signals of multiple power amplifiers and transmits them to specific antennas.
With global standardization scheduled for 2025 and commercialization within four years thereafter, 6G networks will be able to support faster wireless transmission and low latency and high reliability communications. 6G will be a key component of the surrounding Internet of Things, which aims to improve the living and business environment by making it more sensitive, adaptable, independent and personalized to the needs of consumers, recognizing people’s presence and desires.
LG Electronics is a leading provider of 6G core technologies through a number of early initiatives. In 2019, LG, in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, the country’s foremost research university, established the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center. Earlier this year, LG and KAIST attracted global wireless telecommunications testing and measurement equipment manufacturer Keysight Technologies Inc. to take the collaboration to a new level. In June, LG was named leader of the Next G Alliance working group of the Telecommunications Industry Solutions Alliance (ATIS) industry initiative to promote 6G mobile technology leadership in North America over the next decade and beyond.
“The success of this trial demonstrates that we are approaching the successful use of terahertz radio spectrum in the coming 6G era,” said Dr. IP Park, President and Chief Technology Officer, LG Electronics. “Our successful partnership with local and global research institutes and organizations to advance 6G capabilities has been very successful.”
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