LG Hits A Milestone In Developing 6G Communications Technology

Many people are only now beginning to take advantage of 5G smartphones and communications technology. 5G is significantly faster than LTE technology it replaced, and many parts of the country are still waiting on the rollout of 5G technology. Despite 5G technology being relatively new, LG is already working on the next generation of mobile communications technology dubbed 6G.

LG Electronics has announced that it has successfully demonstrated transmission and reception of 6G terahertz data across a distance of 100 meters. Researchers at LG were able to transmit the data across the 100-meter distance in an outdoor setting with assistance from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The milestone was reached on August 13 when data was transmitted between the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany.

There are significant hurdles to overcome in developing 6G when it comes to transmitting data over long distances. LG says 6G terahertz technology has a short-range with significant power loss during transmission and reception between antennas. That power loss means one of the biggest challenges to developing the technology is power amplification for generating stable signals across ultra-wideband frequencies.

LG has created a power amplifier that generates a stable signal output of up to 15 dBm at a frequency between 155 and 175 gigahertz. Researchers have also demonstrated adaptive beamforming technology able to alter the direction of the signal as the channel and receiver position change. LG also developed high gain antenna switching allowing the combining of multiple power amplifiers able to transmit to specific antennas.

Researchers currently expect the technology to be standardized globally by 2025 and available commercially by 2029. Just as the 5G technology did for LTE, 6G networks will support significantly faster wireless transmission and communication speeds with low latency.