Japan's NTT Docomo has collaborated with Ericsson and Japanese glass manufacturer AGC to trial 5G over glass-mounted vehicle antennas, achieving a record 8Gbps transmission speeds to a vehicle traveling at around 100km/h.
The antenna used for the experiment are 5G antennas supporting the 28-GHz band developed by AGC.
The on-glass antennas are not easily seen from the exterior of a vehicle and can be installed without negatively impacting the vehicle design, Ericsson said.
An on-glass antenna allows 5G radio waves to be transmitted and received using beamforming, as well as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) functionality, enabling stable high-speed communication to vehicles in transit.
The trial also achieved speeds of 11Gbps while the vehicle was traveling at 30km/h. It was conducted on a 2.2km long test course at the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management in the Ibaraki prefecture of Japan.
A total of eight antenna elements were installed on the test vehicle on the windshield, both side windows and rear window, to enable the vehicle to receive radio waves from various directions, Docomo announced. A 5G mobile station was meanwhile installed in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The 5G base station and mobile station equipment was provided by Ericsson Japan.
System configuration for field trial
Source: NTT Docomo