The W-band is expected to add more spectrum for high-capacity wireless transport. (Ericsson)
In a joint field trial involving Ericsson, Greek operator Cosmote and Deutsche Telekom’s Mobile Backhaul Service Center, engineers determined that frequency bands beyond 100 GHz, such as W-band, are just as good for wireless backhaul as the E-band, which is 70/80 GHz.
The trial at Cosmote headquarters in Athens, Greece, used pre-commercial equipment to demonstrate a W-band (92-114 GHz) wireless hop over a 1.5 km range. The hop was installed parallel with a 1.5 km E-band hop to show that the W-band has a similar performance to E-band. Speeds of 5.7 Gbps were recorded over the 1.5 km distance, topping 10 Gbps over 1 km hops.