More than five years have passed since 5G began rolling out worldwide, bringing ultra-fast internet with low latency to hundreds of millions of people. Building 5G networks, however, has come with plenty of challenges.
High-frequency signals don't travel as far as earlier ones, so 5G needs more base stations than 4G. With limited land available, telecom providers in Japan have had to come up with creative solutions.
One such solution comes from a modern glass antenna, the result of a collaboration between glass manufacturer AGC, mobile carrier NTT Docomo, and infrastructure company JTower. Called WAVEANTENNA, the device turns ordinary windows into barely noticeable 5G cell sites by sandwiching a special transparent conductive material, similar to the one used in laminated windshields, between two sheets of glass.
In an image shared by JTower, the material appears to blend completely into the glass, and only the cables give away the antenna's presence, though even those are designed very discreetly and run straight up to the roof.
Shota Ochiai, a marketing manager at AGC, described the product as "the world's first antenna capable of turning a window into a base station that can be mounted inside a building's window, turning outdoor space into a service area without disrupting the urban landscape or the appearance of the building."
The approach solves another problem as well. Akinobu Ueda of NTT Docomo said it used to be very difficult to get permission from building owners to install small base stations on the middle and lower floors of their buildings.
Another notable aspect of these glass antennas is that the thickness of the glass can be precisely engineered to minimize the loss and reflection of radio signals that are absorbed or reflected by a window-sized structure. "I don't think the idea of using a transparent conductive material as an antenna existed before," added Kentaro Oka of AGC.
On connectivity, AGC says the antenna has been optimized for frequencies in 5G's Sub6 band, which spans 3.7 to 4.5 GHz. While that still falls short of the ideal 30-300 GHz mmWave frequencies used mainly in 5G, it is a significant step up from 4G. It also serves another purpose: lower frequencies allow better coverage when passing through buildings.
Glass antennas aren't just for cityscapes. AGC has developed separate versions for vehicles, which reduce dropped connections while on the move. The technology is already available in the US, with one customer being Halo, a remotely operated ride-sharing platform in Las Vegas.
It's worth noting that the technology first launched in 2020. A new version was released last year, allowing multiple carriers to share the same window infrastructure. One of these upgraded antennas officially went live for the first time last month in a window in Tokyo's bustling Shinjuku district.
Via Techspot
