DOCOMO achieves 5G speeds in actual-use environments

There have been a number of 5G trials, but so far they’ve all been conducted in test environments. That’s all changed though, as DOCOMO has announced that it’s successfully carried out a 5G test in an actual-use environment, specifically the Roppongi Hills high-rise complex in Tokyo.

This is the first successful test of its kind in a commercial complex, as previous attempts were thwarted by base stations being out of line of sight and diffused reflections causing the attenuation of highly directional millimetre signals.

DOCOMO overcame this though by using beamforming to focus radio waves in a specific direction and beam tracking to control beam direction according to the mobile device's location.

The trial used millimetre-wave signals at 70GHz and achieved speeds of over 2Gbps, which is far faster than is commercially available today.

DOCOMO recorded even higher speeds of over 2.5Gbps in a separate test conducted with Samsung and achieved in a vehicle travelling at 60km/h (around 37 miles per hour). That trial used a 28GHz high-frequency signal along with beamforming with a high number of antenna elements and beam tracking.

DOCOMO has carried out a number of other recent 5G tests too, achieving speeds of more than 10Gbps using MIMO (multiple input multiple output) technology with Ericsson on the 15GHz frequency.

The company also achieved speeds of over 11Gbps using a multi-base-station cooperative transmission system with a 4.6GHz signal in collaboration with Fujitsu and a multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) transmission of 43.9bps/Hz/cell with Huawei. That’s 3.6-times more efficient than past outdoor trials of LTE-Advanced based MU-MIMO technology

So DOCOMO has achieved a lot already and the company has confirmed that it will be continuing to research and develop 5G, while aiming at a commercial launch by 2020.