• The institute is running field trials at 26.7 GHz band with 400 MHz bandwidth, which may be the first carrier frequency in the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum that will be released for 5G in France.
  

• Commercial 5G services are being deployed all over the world, mainly in sub-6 GHz bands. Access to mmWaves is expected to be the next challenge to delivering the full potential of 5G and will be required for future innovative services such as fixed, super-high-speed broadband access, industrial automation, healthcare, and intelligent transport systems.
  

• In the near term, deployment of a mmWave 5G framework will demonstrate multi-user multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology and foreshadow extremely high-speed 5G data transfer rates (up to 1 Gbps). MIMO refers to a practical technique for sending and receiving more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel by exploiting spatial division multiplexing. CEA-Leti's over-the-air test platform based on FPGA, ARM processors, RF front-end, and smart antennas is being used to demonstrate 5G communication.
  

Complete 5G mmWave framework

• Ultimately, the demonstration on the MINATEC campus aims to build a complete 5G mmWave framework integrating CEA-Leti technologies for local 5G networks for vehicular communications. The dynamic beamforming-in-mobility scenario, such as a vehicle-to-infrastructure network, remains a challenge that the institute is addressing by combining beyond state-of-the-art technologies in localization, fusion, signal processing, antenna design, and integration. 

• The project also combines CEA-Leti's transmit-array antennas with hybrid digital processing, which are a relevant and effective solution for addressing the next 5G generation in the mmWave spectrum.
• The results of these six-month field trials will enhance CEA-Leti's technology-to-system offer for its industrial partners in the context of 5G and B5G telecom applications and ad-hoc proprietary radio solutions for vertical market sectors.
• CEA-Leti was granted an experimental license from ARCEP, France's telecommunications regulatory agency, to run the field trials.