NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s biggest mobile communications carrier, achieved a 1Gbps packet transmission speed using fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication equipment on Aug. 20, the company said Friday.
A downlink speed of 1Gbps was achieved in a laboratory experiment using VSF-Spread Variable-Spreading-factor Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technology, according to DoCoMo.
VSF-Spread OFDM enables downlink connections of extremely high speeds. MIMO is a technique for boosting wireless bandwidth and range by taking advantage of multiplexing, which involves sending information in multiple paths so that each carries more information.
The transmitted data was carried in a single beam, but the amount of data was too big for a single antenna so scientists used four antennas, each sending 250Mbps streams of data, for the experiment, said DoCoMo spokesman Takuya Ori.
“It was a lab experiment and it was indoors, so the distance wasn’t that far,” he said.
DoCoMo has been conducting 4G research since 1998. Earlier this year, the company demonstrated a maximum downstream data rate of 300Mbps with an average rate of 135Mbps. The data rate was achieved during a field experiment in a car running at a speed of 30 kilometres per hour at distances between 800 metres and one kilometre from 4G wireless base stations.
DoCoMo’s third-generation (3G) network offers download speeds of 384Kbps and upload speeds of 129Kbps. The company plans to introduce a more advanced packet-based data service network technology called High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in 2005 that will have a 14Mbps speed for both downlink and uplink, according to DoCoMo spokesman Takumi Suzuki.
NTT DoCoMo’s experiments are part of its research into developing a global standard for 4G transmission and networks with the International Telecommunication Union. Research in Japan is conducted in cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
DoCoMo would like to begin commercial services based on 4G in 2010, Suzuki said.