Page 66 - SAMENA Trends - November 2020

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Orange Luxembourg Launches 5G Network

Orange Luxembourg has announced the than ever to differentiate ourselves through renew all our 4G equipment with the latest
official launch of its 5G network. The the quality of our networks. We are also generation of energy-efficient antennas.’
operator confirmed the network was taking advantage of the 5G deployment to
activated on 23 November and will initially
cover Luxembourg City and surrounding
areas, such as Bertrange, Strassen,
Kirchberg and the airport. Orange
subscribers can access 5G services at
no extra charge as part of their existing
mobile plans. The company noted it
plans to ‘support customers in this digital
change’ by launching a major program of
events and demonstrations in stores from
10 December. Corinne Loze, CEO of Orange
Luxembourg, commented: ‘We aim more

First Digital Single-Chip Millimeter-Wave Beamformer will Exploit 5G

Capabilities

The first fully integrated single-chip digital millimeter-wave frequency communication allows for high-speed data transfer,
(MMW) beamformer, created by electrical and computer engineers one of the key advantages of 5G. Analog beamforming has been
at the University of Michigan, opens up new possibilities in high- a standard approach for researchers, but Prof. Michael Flynn
frequency 5G communications. The technology could be used has been investigating a digital approach to exploit advantages
to improve vehicle-to-vehicle communication, autonomous such as large-scale beamforming, highly accurate beam-
driving, satellite internet, and national defense, to name a few. patterns, flexibility, and the ability to generate multiple beams
Beamforming allows a device that is transmitting signals to simultaneously. "With analog beamforming, you can only listen
point them in a particular direction, as opposed to having the to one thing at a time," said Flynn. "But there are a number of
signals radiate out in all directions—which can lead to significant new applications where you want to listen to multiple things at
interference and loss of efficiency. It is an essential technique the same time, and switch quickly between them." For example,
for MMW communication, which occurs at a relatively high Flynn can imagine using digital beamforming on drones sent into
frequency (typically between 24GHz and 100GHz). This high disaster areas to provide emergency internet to people in trouble.
Similarly, there are plans to launch satellites in space in order to
provide internet to people who live outside cities, where access
to the internet can be spotty or non-existent. Having phones with
digital wireless beamforming capability would provide individuals
with more reliable access to the Internet. Test setup built by the
students includes a mini anechoic chamber, and a mechanical
device to move the beamformer in order to test its accuracy.
Credit: University of Michigan Flynn and his group built a 28GHz
MMW digital beamformer, with a custom-designed antenna array
consisting of 16 antennas in single integrated circuit. It is the first
known single-chip system to do MMW digital beamforming. In
part because it's a single chip, the power and size are better than
current digital systems by an order of magnitude. And because
it's digital, the signal can both be pointed in any direction, and can
"listen" in from four different directions at once. That means, for
example, the device could track four airplanes or communicate
with four satellites at the same time.

66 NOVEMBER 2020