Huawei and Vodafone have completed a 5G mmWave field test at Vodafone Emerald House in Newbury, UK. The test covers SU-MIMO (Single User Multiple Input Multiple Output) with a strong reflection path to reach 20Gbps UE peak rate, and MU-MIMO (Multi User Multiple Input Multiple Output) for long-range UE to reach 10Gbps peak rate. It is the world’s first 5G outdoor field test at E-Band reaching 20Gbps peak rate for a single user device with high spectrum efficiency. This peak user rate is targeted by ITU-R as a 5G requirement. This is a key milestone after the two companies signed a strategic MoU on 5G technologies last year and a 5G Acceleration MoU this July.

The demand for spectrum to provide higher-capacity mobile access and self-backhaul has been rising drastically due to soaring mobile broadband communications traffic. The situation is even more critical when operators are faced with the challenge to deliver ultra-high throughout in emerging 5G network. As traditional lower bands used in current cellular access becomes ever more crowded, there is an increasing effort in the industry to explore the centimeter wave (cmWave) and millimeter wave (mmWave) bands to meet broadband speed requirements. This test will contribute to the study of spectrum above 6GHz for 5G enhanced mobile broadband, and to promote global spectrum harmonization in the coming World Radio Congress in 2019 (WRC-19)

E-Band is millimeter wave (mmWave) band and can be used as a complementary spectrum band to the lower-band to deliver ultra-high mobile broadband user experience. Especially it can enable new applications such as VR/AR and act as self-backhaul for the 5G mobile service traffic.

“This field test in an outdoor environment is a significant step in validating the performance of 5G in high frequency bands, improving our understanding of the capabilities of the technology,” said Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Group.

“5G will introduce full spectrum access to support AR, VR, Smart Automobile and other unknown new services. The joint trial of 5G mmWave connectivity in a real world radio propagation environment and co-existence of different radio links is encouraging. I highly value the cooperation with Vodafone, and believe we will achieve more progress in 5G, together with Vodafone and other industry partners,” said Eric Xu, Rotating CEO of Huawei.