Most smartphones these days run on a 4G network. Now, though, scientists have made progress toward 5G. They've demonstrated how a massive antenna system can increase the spectrum efficiency by 12-fold compared with current 4G cellular technology.
Multiple antenna technology (MIMO) is already used in many Wi-Fi routers and 4G phone systems. This usually involves up to four antennas at a base station. In this case, though, the researchers created a simulation that showed a configuration of 128 antennae at a base station.
For the demonstration, the researchers used a flexible prototyping platform from National Instruments (NI) based on LabVIEW system design software and PXI hardware. Bristol's massive MIMO system, which was used for the demo, operates at a carrier frequency of 3.5 GHz. It supports simultaneous wireless connectivity of up to 12 single antenna clients. Each of these clients shares a common 20 MHz radio channel.
The researchers conducted the Massive MIMO demonstrated achieved a bandwidth efficiency of 79.4 bits/s/Hz. This equates to a sum rate throughput of 1.59 Gbit/s in a 20 MHz channel.
"This activity reinforces our well established propagation and system modelling work by offering a new capability in model validation for Massive MIMO architectures," said Andrew Nix, head of the CSN Group. "This is a truly exciting time for our Ph.D. students and opens up further opportunities for collaborative research with our national and international partners."
Currently, Massive MIMO is the most promising 5G technology to date. This could mean that in the future, it could be used to help power phones.
"With much discussion around 5G, NI is excited to work with top research institutions such as Bristol and Lund universities, and organizations like Bristol is Open to drive the standard forward," said James Kimery, director of RF research and SDR marketing at NI. "This Massive MIMO reference design system demonstrates the power and productivity researchers can achieve with NI tools and technologies."
The findings could be huge for the future. Currently, the researchers are looking forward to moving the facility outdoors in late 2016 in order to continue their research with the new technology. This, in turn, may eventually lead to widely used 5G technology in the future.
