NTT Docomo and AGC have demonstrated 8 Gbps 5G communications with a fast-moving vehicle equipped with “vehicle glass mounted antennas” (On-Glass Antennas) in a field trial conducted in conjunction with Ericsson Japan. The 5G 28 GHz band compatible On-Glass Antennas used in the field trial were designed and developed by AGC.

According to Docomo, by installing an On-Glass Antenna on the vehicle, radio waves above 6 GHz can be transmitted and received using the “beam forming function”, which concentrates radio waves in a specific direction, and the “MIMO function”, which improves communication speed by simultaneously transmitting different data from multiple antennas. This allows stable, high-speed communications even for vehicles in operation, the operator also said.

For this field trial, 5G high-speed communications using both the beam forming function and the MIMO function was performed with a vehicle equipped with On-Glass Antennas. The trial was held at the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. While moving at high speeds of 100 km/h, a maximum communication speed of 8 Gbps was achieved, and a maximum of 11 Gbps was achieved at a speed of approximately 30 km/h, confirming that high-speed in-vehicle communications in the 28 GHz band can be achieved by utilizing On-Glass Antennas.