At the "In-depth Interpretation Seminar on Millimeter Wave Technology" held a few days ago, Li Fuchang, deputy director of the Wireless Technology Research Department of China Unicom Research Institute, said that the millimeter wave global industry chain has commercial capabilities, equipment functions and performance need to be improved, and terminal capabilities need to be improved. In his view, the current millimeter wave applications still face challenges, and China Unicom will accelerate the progress of the industrial chain through pilot tests.
What is 5G millimeter wave?
As we all know, 5G mainly uses two frequency bands, namely FR1 frequency band and FR2 frequency band.
Definition of FR1 and FR2 (3GPP 38.101)
The frequency range of FR1 frequency band is 450MHz-6GHz, also called Sub-6GHz frequency band. The frequency range of the FR2 band is 24.25GHz-52.6GHz.
Since most of the FR2 coverage bands are frequencies less than 10 millimeters in wavelength, this part of the frequency band is named "millimeter wave (mmWave)".
Although some of the wavelengths of 24.25GHz-30GHz are greater than 10mm, millimeter waves have become a common name. According to the same naming method, we can also call Sub-6GHz the centimeter wave.
In fact, although we are expanding the 5G network in the Sub-6GHz frequency band in China, many operators abroad have adopted the millimeter wave frequency band to deploy 5G networks.
What is the difference between millimeter wave and sub-6GHz?
Both millimeter wave technology and sub-6GHz are 5G standards specified by 3GPP. The difference between the two is that the frequency of Sub-6 is low, so it spreads farther and the base station construction cost is low, while the millimeter wave frequency is high and the speed is faster, but the transmission is close, the base station construction cost is about ten times that of Sub-6. .
Sub-6GHz refers to the frequency band below 6GHz, including 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 2.6GHz, 3.5GHz and 4.9GHz. It is currently the golden frequency band of mobile communication, supports medium-to-high speed movement, has less transmission loss, and supports non-line-of-sight wireless communication (NLOS).
And the frequency band of millimeter wave is 28GHz, 36GHz, 60GHz and so on. It does not have the characteristics of sub-6GHz, and it is mainly used for fixed wireless communication.
If you want to maximize the performance of 5G, millimeter wave is an indispensable technology. There are abundant spectrum resources above 30GHz. According to the conversion relationship, 1GHz=1000MHz, 1MHz=1000kHz, the spectrum resources of millimeter wave is an order of magnitude improvement. In the future, millimeter waves may replace sub-6GHz and become the best 5G solution.
China Unicom announces 5G millimeter wave plan to complete the deployment of winter Olympic venues in June next year
"In the science and technology Winter Olympics special project, the application scenarios and performance index requirements of the millimeter wave in the Winter Olympics are clearly proposed." Li Fuchang said that as the only operator partner of the Winter Olympics, China Unicom needs to meet the requirements of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee on new network technologies. Requirements. China Unicom will use the application as the driving force to promote the maturity of the millimeter wave industry chain, and cooperate with the construction of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee venues to complete millimeter wave deployment.
China Unicom will carry out millimeter wave pilot trials in the Winter Olympics scene to accelerate the development of the domestic industrial chain, serve the technology Winter Olympics, demonstrate the strength of China's communications industry, and reflect the demeanor of a state-owned enterprise. Take the lead in forming an industrial ecology in the industry, prepare for equipment, chips, and terminals, seize technology and deployment opportunities, and expand industry application areas.
In terms of technology, further clarify the millimeter wave-related technical requirements based on the R16 version, and improve the millimeter wave networking technical plan. In terms of testing, apply for test frequency bands, complete internal and external field verification tests, verify and improve millimeter wave networking solutions. In terms of products, release technical requirements, promote equipment and terminal development, and prepare for networks and applications. In terms of new applications, we will build an industry ecosystem and formulate overall solutions for innovative business applications for the Winter Olympics, participating, and hosting the games.
5G millimeter wave, at the level of ordinary user experience, a very intuitive feeling should be that the network speed is super fast, which is much faster than the current 5G network speed connected by mobile phones. If you have followed relevant news, at the beginning of the early release of 5G mobile phones, some American media conducted 5G network related tests. Under the base station, the connection speed of the 5G network is indeed super fast, but at that time, 5G network coverage is not wide, that is, it can be connected in a relatively small area.
5G millimeter wave can provide higher bandwidth, rich spectrum resources, and extremely high spatial resolution, but millimeter wave propagation and penetration attenuation are very large.
What other challenges will 5G millimeter wave applications face?
Although there are huge opportunities for millimeter waves, there are also challenges in developing unfamiliar areas. In order to deploy millimeter waves, the industry has to pass one barrier after another.
First, the networking capability needs to be verified. After further verification of business and networking capabilities, we can fully prepare for large-scale applications. Li Fuchang suggested that to verify the functions and performance of the high and low frequency hybrid networking in SA mode, it is necessary to determine the networking plan to meet business requirements.
Second, the equipment system is not sound. The integrated micro-RRU equipment has not yet appeared, and it is still unable to meet the needs of operators in diverse scenarios.
Third, the current business prospects are unclear. Business areas and scenarios need to be further focused, and the overall technical solutions and commercial models of the 2B scenario should be clarified. Li Fuchang suggested that the millimeter wave business capabilities should be expanded by combining AI, MEC, and large-scale transmission technologies.
Finally, the release of spectrum affects the pace of deployment. In Li Fuchang's view, the release of frequency spectrum determines the timing of millimeter wave application deployment, which in turn will affect the pace and scale of millimeter wave deployment. The spectrum planning plans to apply millimeter waves to the high-throughput layer for high-traffic service transmission. If the time window is advanced, it will also activate the possibility of more innovative applications. Therefore, it is recommended to take overall consideration of the development of the mobile communication industry and allocate millimeter wave frequency bands for operators.
Ten years of grinding one G, now 5G has passed the starting point and is entering the acceleration runway. Just like the emergence of 4G, no one would have thought that short videos would explode. With the addition of technologies such as millimeter wave, there will be more "5G killer applications" waiting to be discovered and waiting for consumer experience in the future.