Outdoor Transmission Trials in the W-Band for 6G Mobile Access Scenarios

This paper presents the results of several over-the-air (OTA) transmission experiments utilizing fifth-generation new-radio (5G-NR) waveforms in the W-Band (75 GHz - 110 GHz) - a candidate frequency band for the sixth-generation (6G) mobile network in the near-sub-terahertz region. These experiments were conducted in an outdoor environment, including line-of-sight, non-line-of-sight, and obstructed-line-of-sight scenarios. To perform these experiments, we constructed transmit front-end and receive front-end prototypes operating in the W-band. In addition, the components of these front-ends prototypes were developed, including a Rotman lens, power divider/combiner, sector horn antenna array, and an antenna feeder in our transmitter setup. The carrier frequency was 85 GHz, and the transmitted signal bandwidth was up to 400 MHz. The experiment reported in the line-of-sight scenario a successfully transmitted 5G-NR downlink waveforms over a 600 meters distance with 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (64 QAM) for the data channel. The experiment outcome demonstrates the W-band’s potential as a frequency band for mobile access in future 6G mobile networks.