Domestic 5G Construction Accelerated Millimeter Wave Spectrum Expected to Realize Commercial Use

2020 is the industry's recognized 5G construction year, with 5G gaining momentum amid the new infrastructure tide and continued policy increases. As we all know, 5G frequency bands are mainly divided into Sub-6GHz and millimeter wave (24GHz-86GHz). At present, domestic 5G scenario applications are all cases under Sub-6GHz. As a high-frequency wave, millimeter wave has not been able to enter the operator's "legal eye" due to its short transmission distance and "one paper can block the signal". However, under the Sub6GHz 5G network, the single-user peak rate is still at 100 megabytes. In order to meet the 8 KPI indicators expected by 5G, larger bandwidth resources have to be explored in the direction of high frequency. The ultra-high transmission rate, ultra-large capacity and extremely low delay of millimeter wave band may become an important direction for the next stage of 5G development.

Millimeter Wave or 5G Development Key

According to the 3GPP agreement, 5G networks mainly use two frequencies: FR1 band and FR2 band. The frequency range of FR1 band is 450MHz-6GHz, also known as sub-6GHz band. The frequency range of FR2 band is 24.25 GHz-52.6GHz, which is usually called mmWave. The industry is already very familiar with the frequency band below 6GHz. Currently, 4G LTE networks are running in this frequency band, but millimeter waves are relatively unfamiliar.

the so-called millimeter wave refers to electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of 1 to 10mm. It has the characteristics of large bandwidth and narrow beam. In the past, it was only used in military fields such as satellite communications and radar positioning.

its advantages are very prominent, high speed and high capacity, millimeter wave can provide a huge carrier bandwidth of up to 400 to 800MHz, which is dozens of times higher than the 20MHz of 4G, and can increase the transmission rate of 5G network to 10Gbps. Its disadvantage is also obvious. Millimeter wave transmission distance is short. If there are trees in the middle, rain and haze will affect the transmission. This is why millimeter wave has been in the "barren land" of mobile communication during the 30 years of mobile communication development ".

with the arrival of 5G construction wave, the advancement of millimeter wave technology will be the key. It is reported that the currently widely used 4G LTE cellular system based on sub-6GHz frequency band can use a maximum bandwidth of 100MHz and a data rate of no more than 1Gbps. In the millimeter wave band, the maximum bandwidth that can be used is 400MHz, and the data rate is as high as 10Gbps or even higher. In the 5G era, such bandwidth performance can meet users' needs for specific scenarios. Generally speaking, 5G millimeter wave network speed is very fast, faster than the Sub-6GHz 5G. The ITU IMT-2020 specification requires 5G speed to reach 20Gbit/s, which cannot be achieved by Sub-6GHz alone and requires millimeter waves.

5G Millimeter Wave Technology Receives Attention

the arrival of 5G, more and more countries and companies have begun to support 5G in millimeter wave spectrum. Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea and other countries have taken the lead in completing the 5G millimeter wave spectrum division, and part of the commercial, focusing on high-performance 5G services for high-value areas. Among them, Qualcomm took the lead in the research of 5G millimeter wave, introducing 5G chips with Xiaolong 865 and X55 baseband supporting millimeter wave. Samsung is studying millimeter wave technology in South Korea and the United States.

in my country, the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently mentioned that it is necessary to continue to increase the research and development of 5G technology and strengthen the research and development of 5G technology and standards. Organize and carry out 5G industry virtual private network research and pilot, open up standards, technology, applications, deployment and other key links. At the same time, the "Notice" also mentioned that it is necessary to timely release some 5G millimeter wave frequency use plans, carry out 5G industry (including industrial Internet) dedicated frequency planning research, timely implementation of technical test frequency license.

Academy of Engineering, said that on the frequency issue, we are now working in the frequency band below 6GHz (gigahertz). This frequency band is relatively faster than the millimeter wave band, but the highest peak bandwidth available is not as good as the millimeter wave band. Therefore, the millimeter wave band will be used in China's 5G in the future.

over 15 countries are expected to join the 5G Millimeter Wave Club in the coming years.

Still Need Efforts to Achieve Commercial

millimeter wave is crucial to the development of 5G in the future. At the same time, with the acceleration of 5G construction, millimeter wave will also usher in a broad development space.

According to the GSMA report, the deployment of 5G millimeter wave applications in industrial 4.0 scenarios and connected transportation scenarios will bring many benefits. Millimeter wave spectrum, especially in the 24.25-27.5GHz and 37-43.5GHz bands, can provide continuous spectrum necessary for bandwidth required for a large number of data-intensive 5G applications.

report also predicts the application scenario structure of China's 5G millimeter wave. Among them, the manufacturing industry and utilities such as hydropower in the vertical industry field are the industries with the largest visible contribution, accounting for 62% of the total contribution; followed by professional services and financial services accounting for 12%; Information communication and trade account for 10%; Then agriculture and mining, and finally public services. Driven by innovative services brought by 5G millimeter wave, China will account for 53% of the US $212 billion economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region by 2034.

Nevertheless, at present, there are still some problems to be solved in order to realize the commercial use of millimeter waves. Millimeter wave is used in communication. 5G is the first time to be used in cellular communication. Previously, it was mainly used for point-to-point relay or indoor WLAN. When used in cellular communication, the required industrial chain and point-to-point transmission will be different, including The demand for performance and processing capacity will not be completely consistent, so many aspects need to be improved. Some experts said that compared with the low frequency band of millimeter wave, the overall industrial chain is not perfect enough, including the maturity of devices, and it is necessary to further promote the maturity of the overall industrial chain.

China is currently focusing on the sub-6GHz 5G commercial use. During this window period, domestic millimeter wave upstream and downstream industries should accumulate technology as soon as possible to narrow the gap with foreign top levels. At the same time, 3GPP is preparing to set up a project in R17 for communication standards above 52.6GHz. The communication standards for this part of frequencies have not yet been completed and need to be promoted. In addition, in what kind of application scenario can give full play to the advantages of millimeter wave and reduce the disadvantages, but also the whole industry should fully demonstrate.