200 Gbps 6G wireless link successfully demonstrated

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has successfully demonstrated a 200 Gbps 6G wireless link using a proof-of-concept (PoC) system developed late last year. The 6G system developed by ETRI uses an ultra-wide bandwidth of 10 GHz around 160 GHz in the sub-terahertz (sub-THz) band.

The research team implemented a Coordinated Multi Point (COMP) transmission/reception technique where multiple Radio Units (RUs) transmit multiple data streams using the same frequency band, which are simultaneously received by a single terminal.

The demonstration employs 4 RUs and each RU transmits two data layers using signals composed of two polarizations: horizontal and vertical. The maximum wireless link speed for each RU reaches up to 50 Gbps, resulting in a peak data rate of 200 Gbps when the four wireless links are combined. Furthermore, the receiver utilizes a polarization-based receive beamforming to distinguish between the different polarizations while suppressing the interference between the data streams.

The team also implemented the necessary encoding and decoding technology for high-capacity channels to handle the high speeds, which allowed them to increase the data volume fourfold. The sub-THz frequency band used in this research is much higher than existing mobile communication frequency bands. As a result, its propagation distance is short. This makes it suitable for future use in very small cells (such as indoor picocells) or for sensing applications that leverage its wide bandwidth.

The PoC system used in the demonstration incorporates core 6G technologies, including:

• CoMP transmission and reception
• Sub-THz polarization Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO)
• High-capacity coding

Yongsoon Baek, Assistant Vice President of ETRI’s Terrestrial & Non-Terrestrial Integrated Telecommunications Research Laboratory, stated, “Demonstrating the world’s first 200 Gbps 6G PoC system proves Korea’s leadership in 6G technology. We will continue to lead global 6G standardization and commercialization.”

Since establishing its own 6G vision in November 2020, ETRI has led standardization efforts, contributing to the ITU-R IMT-2030 (6G) framework. Recently, ETRI released the updated version of the 6G vision. The revised 6G vision (v2.0) is based on the initial white paper published in 2020 and incorporates the IMT-2030 framework approved by the ITU-R at the end of 2023, along with the latest global technological trends.