NTT DOCOMO, Nihon Dengyo Kosaku, and Fujitsu Ltd. demonstrated a 5G indoor base station incorporating a multisector antenna using the 28GHz band.
The prototype device incorporates circuitry just 1/10th the size of a conventional indoor base station,.The demonstration, in which a conventional 5G base station control unit communicated with the new device via a 28GHz signal, confirmed that a single multisector antenna can receive radio waves in all directions using radio beam control. DOCOMO previously measured the directivity of a single element in a multisector antenna in 2022, but the DOCOMO believes that this was the world's first demonstration to use a multisector antenna in a 5G base station equipped for radio beam control.
A multisector antenna divides its surrounding 360-degree space into multiple areas (sectors) for transmitting and receiving radio waves simultaneously and independently in each sector. The antenna used in the demonstration contained 12 directional elements arranged in a radial pattern, each of which effectively transmitted and received radio waves in a specific direction.