5G transmitter is 20 times more powerful than previous ones

A digital 5G radio transmitter able to transmit 20 times more data than previous designs at no extra cost has been developed by a team in Finland.

The more powerful transmitter could help push forward smart connected technology like driverless vehicles and the Industrial Internet of Things.

The device is designed for smaller fifth generation base stations, which send and receive radio signals. Operators are turning towards building a wider network of smaller base stations to deal with extra data traffic, as well as to avoid energy and cost increases.

This is due to the rise of the Internet of Things as well as the larger amounts of mobile data the public sends and receives each day, due to a surge in the streaming of high bandwidth content like videos and music.

Jussi Ryynänen, an electronics and nanoengineering specialist at Aalto University in Finland, said that the data transfer bandwidth of 4G transmitters is around 20MHz, while the digital 5G transmitter “can achieve bandwidths of up to 400MHz”.

Because of its integrated electronic circuit, the transmitter can also modify the signal it sends. It can covert the analogue radio signal to a digital one until iust before it reaches the antenna, where it is converted back into a radio wave.  

Mikko Valkama, technology communications engineer, who worked on the project, said that this ability opens “new possibilities for modifying and programming the transmitted signal”.

“The quality of the transmitted signal can be enhanced and we can freely choose the frequencies the transmitter uses without parallel radio transmitters," Valkama added.

Aalto University researchers developed the transmitter in collaboration with Tampere University of Technology in Finland and Nokia’s research company Bell Labs.