An international consortium led by Samsung and involving numerous major infrastructure companies is conducting R&D aimed at using 6-GHz or higher spectrum in 5G networks.
The mmMAGIC consortium has members including Samsung, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Nokia and major European operators Orange and Telefonica.
The consortium will explore using high-frequency bands from 6-GHz up to 100-GHz, for next-generation mobile networks. This includes the millimetre-wave frequencies.
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Also involved in the research project are a number of European universities, as well as measurement equipment companies.
Mark Beach, professor of radio systems engineering at the University of Bristol – one of the institutions involved in the project – told Phys.org that the use of millimetre wave radio spectrum would help provide 5G networks with the bandwidth requirements needed for such high-speed mobile services.
"With developments in the field of on-chip antennas and beamformers, this technology will become common place in consumer products in the next five to ten years,” he said.
The mmMagic project launched earlier this month and will last for two years. This will have it running parallel with the FANTASTIC-5G research project to create a new 5G air interface at below 6-GHz frequencies, another European-led initiative involving many of the same organizations.