A consortium of 15 leading telecommunications operators, vendors, research centres and academic institutions in Europe have launched the MiWaveS (Millimeter-Wave Small Cell Access and Backhauling). This is a European collaborative project whose goal is to develop millimeter-wave (mmW) key radio technologies to provide multi-Gbps data rates to future 5G cellular mobile network users. The evolution of mobile networks towards increase in magnitude of global mobile data traffic is impeded by major bottlenecks, such as the scarcity of spectrum resources below 6 GHz leading to high interference levels, the public concern about microwave electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure in dense areas, the power consumption of the infrastructure, and the flexibility and robustness of the network.
The flexible spectrum usage of the mmW frequency bands at 60 GHz and 71-86 GHz will enable data transmissions up to 10 Gbps for backhaul and 5 Gbps for mobile users. MiWaveS is expected to have a major impact on the key enabling technologies for the next generation of heterogeneous wireless networks. The deployment of mmW small cells in dense urban areas will not only improve the flexibility of the access infrastructure, but also the spectral and energy efficiency by low-power access points using mmW spectrum resources.
The MiWaveS project is partially funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Program. It supports the development of future network infrastructures that allow the convergence and interoperability of heterogeneous mobile, wired and wireless broadband network technologies as enablers of the future Internet.
The MiWaveS consortium relies on the diverse and complementary expertise of its members:
- CEA-Leti (FR)
- Telecom Italia (IT)
- Orange (FR)
- Nokia (FI)
- Intel Mobile Communications (DE)
- National Instruments Dresden (DE)
- STMicroelectronics (FR, IT)
- Sivers IMA (SE)
- Optiprint (CH)
- VTT (FI)
- Tech. Univ. Dresden (DE)
- Tecnologias Servicios Telematicos y Systemas (ES)
- Univ. of Rennes 1 (FR)
- Univ. of Surrey (UK)
The MiWaveS project was launched at the beginning of January 2014, and will last for three years.
