Engineers Create a Laser System That Improves the Speed of 5G

Engineers Create a Laser System That Improves the Speed of 5G

This year all people who have a Smartphone must choose between enjoying enormous speed in a reduced space of coverage gaps thanks to 5G or whether to settle for coverage and speeds that are sufficient but are not even capable of exceeding 4G . However, a new technology could combine the advantages of both options to enable 5G connectivity without sacrificing speed or reliability. This technology allows reaching a speed of 800 Mbps while maintaining 100% of the signal strength.

It has been developed by a group of engineers from the University of California in San Diego, United States. Today’s 5G systems transfer data via a millimeter wave beam much like a laser to and from a base station and receiver (in this case, the receiver is our mobile phone). However, if something gets in the way, the connection is automatically blocked.

Divide the beam into several, the key

Relying on a single beam causes only one point of failure to exist. So the engineers came up with a solution that consisted of dividing the millimeter wave beam into several, each of which would have a different path from the base station to the receiver.

Thus, at least one of the rays could reach the receiver in case the others encountered some kind of obstacle during the journey.

To build this system, a set of new algorithms was created. The first one tells the base station to divide the beam into several. Some of the trajectories are made directly towards the receiving device, while others are not due to bouncing off different objects.

Once this is done, the algorithm makes the decision to choose the best path through trial and error, optimizing the angle, phase, and signal strength to collectively create a stronger, better performing and higher quality signal.

Quality and potency are unaffected

Although you might think that splitting the millimeter wave beam would mean a reduction in performance or signal quality, the algorithm is made to prevent this from happening. In addition, another algorithm maintains the connection in case the user moves or steps in the signal path. These unexpected movements can cause an unevenness that the algorithm solves by tracking the user’s movement and realigning the parameters.

Best of all, this system can be developed with existing communications technology. All algorithms comply with current 5G protocols. All you need is a small base station equipped with a phased array developed in the University of San Diego laboratory.

So this is an important new technology for the development of the 5G network . even so, it may take a while for different operators to be able to adapt their high-band networks to implement solutions like this one.