DOCOMO and Ericsson Succeed in World's First Trial to Achieve Cumulative 20Gbps with Two Simultaneously Connected Mobile Devices in 5G Outdoor Trial

NTT DOCOMO, INC. and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) announced today that in a joint 5G technologies trial, the companies achieved a cumulative 20Gbps of data throughput in an outdoor environment using the 15GHz frequency band with two simultaneously connected mobile devices of a downlink bit rate of over 10Gbps each, on February 21. The data speed satisfies one of the key requirements for future 5G commercial services.

The companies also succeeded in a separate trial on February 21, data throughput exceeding 10Gbps at a distance of approximately 70 meters from the base station, or about 7 times farther than the distance achieved in a past trial. Moreover, the data transmission exceeding 9Gbps at a distance of about 120 meters from the base station was also succeeded.

5G will use high-frequency bands, which are inclined to experience attenuation in speed and capacity as they travel over long distances.

The trial, which took place at the DOCOMO R&D Center in the city of Yokosuka, Japan, utilized a specification defined jointly by DOCOMO and Ericsson, and an Ericsson 5G Radio Prototype and user devices, in place of mobile phones, from Ericsson.

The data speeds were achieved thanks to multi-beam multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which increases data speeds by multiplexing radio waves simultaneously. Also, by utilizing a beam-forming technique that incorporates beams, each one consisting of 64 antenna elements to converge highly directional long-distance signals on a single target, the cumulative 20Gbps throughput was successfully transmitted.

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