Ericsson and DT hit 40 Gbps with millimeter wave backhaul test

Ericsson and Deutsche Telekom demonstrated a millimeter wave link with a data transmission rate of 40 Gbps. The live trial covered a hop distance of 1.4 kilometers in the millimeter wave (E-band) spectrum. The technical setup included Ericsson’s MINI-LINK 6352 microwave solution and Router 6000. The round-trip latency performance of the link tested was less than 100 microseconds, confirming the positive contribution of wireless backhaul technologies to satisfy network-specific latency targets.

The joint innovation project, which was conducted at the Deutsche Telekom Service Center in Athens, achieved four times greater data throughput compared to current commercial millimeter wave solutions to prove the commercial viability of future wireless backhaul technology. The test also focused on the stringent latency requirements in 5G network architecture to support low latency or ultra-low latency use cases.

Alex Jinsung Choi, SVP Strategy & Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom, says: “A high-performance transport connection will be key to support high data throughput and enhanced customer experience in next-generation networks. While fiber is an important part of our portfolio, it is not the only option for backhaul. Together with our partners, we have demonstrated fiber-like performance is also possible with wireless backhauling/X-Haul solutions. This offers an important extension of our portfolio of high-capacity, high-performance transport options for the 5G era.”

Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, says: “Microwave continues to be a key technology for mobile transport by supporting the capacity and latency requirements of 4G and future 5G networks. Our joint innovation project shows that higher capacity microwave backhaul will be an important enabler of high-quality mobile broadband services when 5G becomes a commercial reality.”