Qualcomm Technologies in collaboration with Thundercomm Technology and Keysight Technologies last week announced their cooperation in the establishment of a new 5G mmWave laboratory in Koto-ku, Tokyo, by Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute (TIRI).
This effort aims to lower the barriers for many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan to start designing, developing and testing private and local 5G mmWave products, which will play a key role for commercial adoption of 5G infrastructure in smart factories, smart cities and other industrial applications.
SMEs can now use the lab to complete 5G mmWave beamforming characterization and verification. This is an important processes in finalizing new product designs, including overall physical design, 5G mmWave antenna location and directions and definition of product enclosure materials. During the process, each antenna’s behavior can be accurately quantified in terms of input and output of mmWave phase and amplitude for the purpose of defining how a most effective set of mmWave beams are generated to optimize the quality of actual communication.
Thundercomm used a development kit based on their T55 System-On-Module, which supports many 5G and 4G bands, including mmWave bands such as n257, n258, and n261. The development kit is built using the Snapdragon® X55 5G Modem-RF System and Qualcomm® QTM525 mmWave antenna modules.
The lab is equipped with Keysight’s 5G device test solution, which includes 5G network emulator E7515B with sophisticated software capabilities and mmWave over-the-air (OTA) test chamber F9650A, to verify the radio frequency (RF) performance of 5G devices developed to support private 5G applications.
Kenji Nemoto, Senior Director, Marketing, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies, Y.K
The industry is seeking solutions to expand the 5G ecosystem with mmWave technology. Our work with Thundercomm and Keysight helps to establish the technologies and testing facilities companies need to develop new products without being overly burdened by the cost of entry.
Masanori Imai, President, Thundercomm Japan
Benefits of mmWave technology are not only to evolve personal wireless communication but to revolutionize every industry, including smart factories, smart cities, mobility, health care, sports, and entertainment, as a key technology of 5G.
