Telecommunications

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

The 5G millimeter-band transceiver has been developed by Samsung Electronics
The 5G millimeter-band transceiver has been developed by Samsung Electronics

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. Unlike the term 4G, 5G denotes no particular specification, and is instead a generic term for next-gen telecommunications (or perhaps next next-gen, depending on where you are).

Source: Samsung

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6 comments
notarichman
Interesting, but it took HOW long for the providers to supply 4G??? and some really don't supply it now. i bought the first 4G phone and that corp. is almost belly up...it's "mother ship" keeps having to support it. LTE is a standard now and my provider doesn't have it.
Nairda
Hi notarichman,
You have to appreciate that as mega-cities in Asia modernize, the focus and rapid development of this technology will only be for those countries. Samsung will get the most bang for its buck in Tokyo, Shanghai, HK, etc, as this technology will be initially very capital intensive.
They will also not care about making this technology appealing or affordable to medium / low population distribution areas. Even outside their major cities, these speeds will be limited to a few km from each respective town center, because there is no business case for it otherwise.
In time perhaps, this technology will water down to the rest, but not for at least a decade after. Enjoy your 4G. 20Mbit/sec is ample for Facebook, Youtube and online gaming.
John Findlay
Here in Australia we are spending @ $50 Billion on fibre that will be obsolete by the time it's finished. All the smart arse's said that what Samsung has done is impossible. Proof that what is impossible today is possible tomorrow.
Arahant
The rate at which technology is discovered and then finaly makes its way to being used by the general population is speeding up year over year, I think as all media goes online and the huge demand for fast speed and high bandwidth fully become apparent, there will be a huge push for this sort of technology. And it will get developed and utilized very quickly, theres to much money not to. Before now they've done just fine with 3g-4g lte.
At some point soon ALL the infrastructure will have to be replaced/updated to keep up with the populations demands/needs, and technology is growing so rapidly with the right funding i think everything will change so much.
Thats my opinion anyways.
Rocky Stefano
@Everybody. I'm sorry Samsung but we were using internal use only LTE handset/walkies at Nortel back in the early 2002-2003 years when we first worked on that tech. The issue has nothing to do with making those radios.
Daniel Kleinschrodt
...peak speed requirements for 4G service [are] at 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s) for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).
This has still not happened, so how can "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." be considered 5G.
It just doesn't make sense.