NI And TU Dresden To Develop The World's First Open mmWave Test Bed

NI and the Vodafone Chair at TU Dresden have partnered to expand the Dresden 5G lab (D5GL) with the first open, mmWave test bed in the world. This state-of-the-art test bed can process multi-GHz of RF signal bandwidth in real time. It will be used to explore mmWave as a medium for mobile access, backhaul wireless communication, and massive MIMO.

“The mmWave frequency spectrum for mobile communication presents significant challenges that conventional approaches cannot solve,” said Dr. Gerhard Fettweis, Vodafone Chair at TU Dresden. “With NI tools, the D5GL test bed will offer researchers a flexible, real-time prototyping platform using the latest technologies.”

NI will provide the integrated hardware and software for building this comprehensive test bed. It will cover several spectrum options and bandwidth configurations in the mmWave bands. With this test bed, researchers can build a complete working prototype of a 5G mmWave system.

NI and TU Dresden Innovation Timeline

• 2010 – NI creates the RF/Communications Lead User Program to expedite the development of 5G networks by giving researchers the tools they need.
• May 2012 – TU Dresden joins the RF/Communications Lead User Program to explore new technologies for 5G wireless systems.
• Nov. 2012 – TU Dresden and NI collaborate to produce the first real-time over-the-air prototype of Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM).
• May 2014 – TU Dresden and NI will collaborate on mmWave research for massive broadband access and massive MIMO.

Learn more about our involvement with 5G research visit http://www.ni.com/5g/.

Learn more about mmWave cellular systems visit http://www.ni.com/white-paper/52190/en/.