Keysight
Keysight and partners make UK’s first 100 Gbps “6G” Sub-THz connection
Highlights:
- Data link made at speeds greater than 100 Gbps at a frequency of 300 GHz using both 32 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulation
- Achievement enabled by Keysight’s 6G sub-THz testbed platform
Keysight Technologies, Inc, in collaboration with National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Surrey, has made the first 6G connection at speeds greater than 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) over sub-terahertz (THz) frequencies in the U.K.
Future 6G use cases, such as augmented reality and autonomous vehicles, will require data throughput speeds from 100 Gbps to 1 terabit per second (Tbps). To achieve the extreme data speeds and low latencies required by these revolutionary use cases, the use of sub-THz frequencies is being explored. However, operations in sub-THz frequency bands introduce signal integrity and path loss challenges that can negatively impact performance.
Keysight, NPL, and the University of Surrey established the first sub-THz high throughput 6G testbed in the U.K. to address these challenges. Funded by the U.K. government for 6G research, NPL and Surrey scientists are using the testbed to study and characterize sub-THz signal performance to generate new techniques for optimizing data paths and calibration methodologies.
Located at NPL, this new 6G testbed achieved the U.K.’s first high-speed sub-THz data link. The demonstration was made at a frequency of 300 GHz using both 32 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Built on Keysight’s 6G Sub-Terahertz R&D Testbed, the testbed uses the M8194A Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) combined with Virginia Diodes Inc. (VDI) upconverters / downconverters to generate the signal and Keysight’s UXR0704A Infiniium multichannel high-performance 70 GHz oscilloscope to analyze the signal.
Keysight, NPL, and the University of Surrey will demonstrate the new 6G testbed at the Spring 2023 6G Symposium at the University of Surrey, April 24-26.
Irshaad Fatadin, Principal Scientist, National Physical Laboratory, said: “6G is a key focus for NPL and we are using our scientific and measurement capabilities to tackle the challenges of this new technology. Our partnership with Keysight will be a critical success factor in our 6G research work.”
Mosaab Abughalib, Senior Research Director and General Manager for Keysight’s Network Emulation Group, said: “Through this partnership we are bringing Keysight solutions and experts together with scientists from NPL and the University of Surrey to unlock the true potential of 6G.”
Resources:
- White paper: 6G: Going beyond 100Gbps to 1 Tbps
- Keysight 6G Sub-Terahertz R&D Testbed
- M8194A Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG)
- UXR0704A Infiniium UXR-Series Oscilloscope
About Keysight in 6G:
Keysight creates the runway that enables researchers to launch evolutionary and revolutionary technology platform solutions based on 5G-Advanced and 6G technologies. A cohesive set of design and development building blocks across multiple interconnected technology domains enables innovators to spark new insights. Keysight plays a pivotal role in bringing to life 6G use cases that have the potential to transform society, enhance human interactions, enable enterprises to achieve greater efficiencies, and accelerate life-changing innovations.
About Keysight Technologies:
At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, we’re delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product lifecycle. We’re a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.
Learn more at Keysight Newsroom and www.keysight.com.
References:
Enable-6G: Yet another 6G R&D effort spearheaded by Telefónica de España
China to introduce early 6G applications by 2025- way in advance of 3GPP specs & ITU-R standards
India unveils Bharat 6G vision document, launches 6G research and development testbed
NTT DOCOMO & SK Telecom Release White Papers on Energy Efficient 5G Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements
Juniper Research: 5G to Account for 80% of Operator Revenue by 2027; 6G Requires Innovative Technologies
China’s MIIT to prioritize 6G project, accelerate 5G and gigabit optical network deployments in 2023
China Mobile unveils 6G architecture with a digital twin network (DTN) concept
Summary of ITU-R Workshop on “IMT for 2030 and beyond” (aka “6G”)
Keysight Technologies, Qualcomm extend 5G Collaboration to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) Technology
Keysight Technologies has extended its collaboration with Qualcomm to accelerate commercialization of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology, which will enable mobile operators to quickly and cost-effectively roll out (3GPP Release 15) 5G new radio (NR) data services (independent of 4G LTE or 5G IMT 2020 signaling/ control plane or mobile packet core).
DSS enables a mobile operator to flexibly allocate existing spectrum across low-, mid- and high- frequency bands, by dynamically switching between 4G LTE and 5G NR coverage based on traffic demand. Mobile operators can leverage DSS to deliver the best possible performance and coverage for a mix of 4G and 5G devices. Mobile operators are expected to start deploying DSS on the prevailing 4G LTE base stations by 2020, thereby accelerating 5G services worldwide. As such, DSS will greatly expand the capability of 3GPP Release 15 – 5G New Radio (NR) devices, according to Keysight.
Keysight’s 5G network emulation solutions was said to accelerate the development of Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF System to support DSS. This collaboration bodes well for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon technology as the latest 5G network emulation solutions is enabled to support speed, latency, reliability and the emerging 5G infrastructure.
“Our continued collaboration with Keysight on 5G technology, which was initiated in 2015, has enabled Qualcomm Technologies to accelerate the implementation of DSS, a critical feature that will help mobile operators quickly transition to 5G,” said Jon Detra, vice president, engineering, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, in a statement.
“Keysight helps us develop and validate our Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF System designs at a pace that will help accelerate 5G commercialization.”
“Our extended collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies on 5G technology enables device makers and mobile operators to cost-effectively build out 5G coverage”, said Kailash Narayanan, vice president and general manager of Keysight’s wireless test group.
Earlier this year, Keysight announced that the company’s 5G collaboration with Qualcomm resulted in several industry breakthroughs: the industry’s first Global Certification Forum (GCF) validation of 5G NR conformance test cases for radio frequency (RF) demodulation and radio resource management (RRM); and the industry’s first announced 5G NR data call in the Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) mode.
Many Other Companies Working on DSS:
Ericsson has also collaborated with Qualcomm by making the world’s first 5G data call using DSS as we reported in this IEEE Techblog post. Also, Verizon is said to be working with chip makers and equipment vendors to advance DSS, which its CEO Hans Vestberg envisions applying across its full spectrum holdings. The carrier identified DSS as a key feature for their broader 5G deployment.
Paul Challoner, vice president of network solutions for Ericsson North America, said that he expects “multiple large customers” to use DSS around the second half of the year. While he noted that Swisscom mentioned using DSS in its recent announcement about its 5G deployment, he said the operator isn’t necessarily going to be the first to use it. DSS will only work with 5G-ready equipment, so operators that haven’t upgraded their network gear in the past couple of years won’t be able to use DSS. Challoner said that most of the large operators have upgraded their networks with 5G-ready equipment, but he noted that smaller operators may need to look at DSS as an extra incentive to upgrade their networks quickly. “This is a capex friendly way to get to 5G,” he said.
Qualcomm is already developing chips for consumer devices that will enable them to make use of DSS-enabled spectrum. Dean Brenner, senior vice-president of Spectrum Strategy and Technology at Qualcomm, has called DSS a game-changer. Phones that use DSS will need chips that support the different cellular standards. It’s not completely clear when the chips needed for the flexible phones will be commercially available.
Steve Scarlett, head of technology for Verizon customer business at Nokia, said that the timing of DSS deployment really depends upon the availability of 5G handsets that have the spectrum sharing capability because existing LTE handsets won’t be able to take advantage of the network upgrade, and operators need to be careful so DSS doesn’t impact existing LTE customers. Scarlett also said that he believes DSS will eventually be critical for 5G roaming because the spectrum bands where LTE is deployed are already being used globally for LTE roaming. Once 5G becomes more pervasive, operators will need to figure out a way for users to roam and still get the same 5G services. “There are timing signals in LTE that can’t be messed with,” Scarlett added.
Ed Gubbins, senior analyst with GlobalData, said that the value of DSS really depends upon the operator’s spectrum assets and their 5G rollout plans. Some operators aren’t planning to use overlapping spectrum for 4G and 5G, so they won’t need DSS. He also noted that DSS is really intended to be used by each vendor’s existing 4G customers. In other words, Ericsson customers will likely use Ericsson’s DSS product and Nokia’s customers will use Nokia’s product. The same will occur with Huawei and Samsung, which also offer spectrum sharing solutions.
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References:
https://about.keysight.com/en/newsroom/pr/2019/26sep-nr19123.shtml
https://www.fierceelectronics.com/iot-wireless/keysight-qualcomm-seek-to-speed-ramp-up-dss-for-5g
https://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless-infrastructure/dynamic-spectrum-sharing-promises-bridge-5g
Ericsson 5G data call using dynamic spectrum sharing with Qualcomm 5G Modem-RF System
