New wireless-extending tech a ‘paradigm shift’ for 5G: federal researchers

OTTAWA — A federal research lab on the outskirts of Canada’s capital has developed a technology that could extend the signals fundamental to ubiquitous wireless connectivity. In a release last week, the Communications Research Centre (CRC) announced that they had successfully run real world tests on a technology called “engineered surfaces” to direct and steer millimeter wave spectrum (mmWave) signal, which could have a significant impact on future 5G deployment in dense, urban environments. “Before, what you had for radio transmission, you had a transmitter and you had a receiver. You had to live with what was in between,” Jean Luc Bérubé, president of the CRC, told the Wire Report during a visit of their testing labs near the Ottawa suburb of Kanata on Monday. He said if you wanted better coverage, “either you improve your transmitter or you improve your receiver.” This research could be a world-first, as the researchers said they did not know of any other group which have used the technology in a wireless communication application. The work is occuring at the same time as Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada is in the midst of consultation on how to auction access to the 28 GHz, 37-40 GHz and 64-71 GHz frequencies — all considered part of the mmWave spectrum. Experts argue, such spectrum will require pairing with other low band spectrum to satisfy coverage requirements. That was a challenge highlighted by a recent report on mmWave prepared for 5G Americas because mmWave is suitable only for use over short distances, making its combination with lower frequency spectrum critical for 5G operation. Bérubé described the new application of the engineered surface technology as a “paradigm shift.” Instead of merely increasing transmission power, engineered surfaces would allow wireless providers to improve the environment in which the signal is being broadcasted to address the challenges of coverage in the 5G world. The Wire Report visited the research lab to see the work first hand. Most people have experienced this technology if they’ve cooked anything in a microwave. When someone peers at their reheating leftovers, they are protected by the thin lines of an engineered surface which lets the visible light out, but keeps the heating microwaves from hitting the hungry and impatient person, the CRC said. Originally, the team at the CRC successfully tested their surfaces in their lab, but their goal was to demonstrate the ability in an uncontrolled environment. The team picked city hall in Ottawa and their first step was to map the area using light detection and ranging (LIDAR), a super-precise measurement of the environment using lasers. “Once you know what something looks like you are able to design the environment in a predictable way, you can predict how it’s going to work,” said Bérubé. “You are able to go design that environment for best coverage possible.” The CRC team set up a 28 gHz transmitter in the small area in which they collected measurements, and made sure to demonstrate a key weak point of the high frequency spectrum bands: if the receiver is not in the line of sight or around a corner, the signal quality drops off significantly. To show this, they had a test subject wear a 28 gHz receiver in the form of a backpack, which Bérubé explained acted much like a mobile phone. In the visit to the lab, they played a recording of the test subject walking through the area with video streaming to a tablet. During the recording of the test, the quality of the video on the tablet degraded very quickly when the subject moved away and around the corner from the transmitter. In other solutions for this, wireless technology companies have shared their vision of a future filled with femto or pico cells, which are small low-range transmitters on infrastructure such as light posts. Instead of large towers providing cellular signals over a wide area, companies like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd have proposed that small transmitters would be densely packed in urban environments so that 5G users in the future stay connected to the low-range signals. With CRC’s new application of the engineered surface technology that may not be necessary. In the Ottawa city hall demo, they used two kinds of the surface to improve coverage. As the test subject lost signal and the video stopped streaming, the team raised a wall with thin lines printed with silver and suddenly the signal bloomed and extended around the corner of the building. That surface specifically spread the signal in two directions. What that increased coverage interacted with was a second surface that was found completely out of the line of sight of the transmitter. It caused the coverage to increase omnidirectionally and the video stream reconnected to the test subject’s tablet. Neither of the surfaces required power to operate, and the real world environment introduced some unknown variables, when someone decided to park their car in front of the surface before the test. The results of the test did not appear to be affected. The future potential of engineered surface technology isn’t lost on the researchers at the CRC. “Eventually these will be part of window blinds, billboards, sides of buildings,” senior research engineer Eric Lafond said. “They might be even part of architectural design and building codes, significantly changing the discussion.” The CRC team has followed the philosophy of open access, allowing other companies to test their wireless technology using the engineered surfaces at Ottawa’s city hall. In another demo, Bérubé showed off a surface’s ability to block signals. Moving a curtain with the hidden printed pattern between a WiFi transmitter and receiver caused a video stream to fail in an instant. Chief technology officer of the CRC John Lodge acknowledged how useful this could be in a crowded multi-dwelling building that already has trouble with overlapping WiFi signals. As for what inspired this research, it was demand for better wireless connectivity by everyday Canadians. “We look at articles now about how people choose their neighbourhoods,” Lodge explained, saying how people ask for good wireless coverage, which is “ahead of other things like health care and education.” — With reporting by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

New wireless-extending tech a ‘paradigm shift’ for 5G: federal researchers

News | November 30, 2017

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New wireless-extending tech a ‘paradigm shift’ for 5G: federal researchers

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