KAIST Develops World's First 27GHz Wideband Beamforming Technology

Securing Core Technologies for 6G Mobile Communication

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 3rd that it has succeeded for the first time in the world in developing a broadband beamforming solution technology with a 27 gigahertz (GHz) bandwidth in the 6G terahertz (THz) band for mobile communications.

The LG-KAIST 6G Research Center, an in-house research organization at KAIST, overcame the technical challenge of high signal transmission loss in the terahertz frequency range of 143 to 170 GHz, achieving a 27 GHz bandwidth, through two and a half years of fundamental technology R&D. They developed a beamforming solution that can be effectively utilized for mobile communications and successfully completed hardware implementation testing and demonstration.

Considering that the total bandwidth allocated to domestic 5G millimeter wave communication operators is about 2.4 GHz, ranging from 26.5 to 28.9 GHz, the 27 GHz bandwidth supported by the newly developed broadband beamforming solution is evaluated as world-class performance, supporting more than 11 times the expanded bandwidth compared to 5G millimeter wave with a single solution.

The LG-KAIST 6G Research Center has been progressively pursuing the discovery of fundamental technologies and securing related implementation technologies to realize low-loss signal transmission-distribution and ultra-wideband variable phase control of terahertz frequency signals. As a result, they internalized the entire applied technology of this developed solution. Additionally, through hardware implementation verification tests, they confirmed that under the ultra-wideband support condition of 27 GHz, the overall system signal transmission efficiency improved by 4.2 times compared to existing technologies, while providing beam variability performance suitable for mobile communication use by securing an effective beamwidth of 20 degrees and a beam steering range of 50 degrees.

Established in January 2019 by LG Electronics and KAIST, the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center is Korea’s first 6G industry-academia research center focused on developing core fundamental technologies for leading 6G technology in the terahertz band, the key frequency for 6G mobile communications. Since then, it has been conducting joint R&D centered on discovering fundamental 6G technologies.

In particular, KAIST and LG Electronics formed a 6G R&D cooperation belt with the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science and Keysight Korea to define problems, create solutions, and produce and verify prototypes. In 6G mobile communications, broadband wireless transmission using terahertz frequencies is emerging as a key transmission technology to support high transmission speeds and many subscribers. A broadband beamforming solution that compensates for the reduced communication distance caused by terahertz frequency use through beam radiation gain is an essential technology requirement.

Cho Dong-ho, director of the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center, said, "We have confirmed the world-class research capabilities of the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center in securing core fundamental technologies for 6th generation mobile communication broadband beamforming," adding, "By jointly collaborating with LG Electronics, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, and Keysight, we have created core 6G technologies and verified their feasibility, creating an opportunity to lead global 6G technology development."