6G hits 938 Gbps speed in latest test

The researchers have transmitted wireless data at a speed of 938 gigabits per second (Gbps), surpassing the average speed of a current 5G phone connection by more than 9000 times.

This speed allows for the download of over 20 movies of average length every second. It sets a new standard for multiplex data, which combines two or more signals.

To increase transmission speeds, Zhixin Liu and his team at University College London have utilized a broader spectrum of frequencies than ever before. 

They have operated across a range from 5 gigahertz to 150 gigahertz, employing both radio waves and light.

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the speed that 6G could achieve in the future.

The next-generation radio access network (RAN) requires high-speed wireless transmission between base stations that exceeds 100 Gbps to connect access points and hubs. 

This has motivated research exploring fully utilizing wireless spectrum from sub-6 GHz to millimeter (mm) waveband (e.g., D-band up to 170 GHz) for data transmission, using all-electronic or optoelectronic approaches. 

However, all-electronic and optoelectronic methods have been used separately due to the challenge of generating broadband signals with synchronized carrier frequencies. 

The researchers demonstrated an ultra-wide 145 GHz bandwidth wireless transmission of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals over the air, covering a 5–150 GHz frequency region. 

The high-frequency mm-wave band signals, including W-band (75–110 GHz) and D-band (110–150 GHz), are generated by mixing optically modulated signals with frequency-locked lasers on high-speed photodiodes. 

By frequency-locking two pairs of narrow linewidth lasers and referring to a common quartz oscillator, the researchers generated W-band and D-band signals with stable carrier frequency and reduced phase noise compared to free-running lasers, maximizing the use of spectrum.