Press Releases

May 9, 2018

DOCOMO Achieves World's First 5G Wireless Data Transmission in Ultra-high-mobility Environment Exceeding 300 km/h
— Also achieves unprecedented ultra-high-speed data transmission, 4K high-frame-rate video live relay, and fast handover —

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TOKYO, JAPAN, May 9, 2018 --- NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that together with NEC Corporation and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) it has achieved what is believed to be the world's first successful 28 GHz wireless data transmission between a 5G base station and a 5G mobile station in 5G field trials using a car moving at 305 km/h.

The trials also achieved what are believed to be the world's first successful 1.1 Gbps ultra-high-speed data transmission via downlink to a 5G mobile station moving at 293 km/h and a fast handover during communication between 5G base stations and a 5G mobile station moving at 290 km/h. In addition, the trial succeeded in a wireless live relay of 4K high-frame-rate video via uplink from a 5G mobile station moving at 200 km/h.

The trials, conducted at the Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) on April 8, created an ultra-high-mobility test environment using a car traveling at speeds similar to those of high-speed railways.

Radio waves in the 28 GHz high-frequency band propagate very straight and make long-range transmission difficult due to large propagation loss. To overcome these challenges, the 5G base station and 5G mobile station were both equipped for beamforming, which concentrated radio power in a specific direction, and beam tracking, which switched the direction of the beams to follow the 5G mobile station as it moved at high speed. By optimizing these functions, DOCOMO succeeded in establishing wireless communications in the ultra-high-mobility test environment.

Furthermore, DOCOMO successfully confirmed 5G wireless communication across a wide area by achieving a fast handover to maintain connection with a mobile station while switching between base stations.

DOCOMO also succeeded in a wireless live transmission of 4K high-definition, 120-frames-per-second high-frame-rate video from a car moving at very high speed utilizing New windowNTT's real-time 4K high-frame-rate HEVC codec.

Other companies involved in the trials included DOCOMO 5G Open Partner Program participants, Sony Business Solutions Corporation, and DOCOMO TEAM DANDELION RACING manager Dandelion Limited.

Going forward, DOCOMO will continue conducting 5G research with world-leading vendors and partners to expand 5G capabilities in a wide range of operating environments.

Video of Ultra-high-mobility 5G Field Trials (Japanese only)

Roles of Each Participant

Roles of Each Participant
Company Roles
DOCOMO
  • Planning and direction of the trials
  • Designing of 5G area for ultra-high-mobility environment
NEC
  • Provision of 5G mobile station equipment and 5G base stations
  • Set up of 5G core equipment
NTT

NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories:

  • Analysis of radio propagation in high-frequency band

NTT Media Intelligence Laboratories:

  • Construction of 4K high-frame-rate video-transmission system
Sony Business Solutions
  • Provision of 4K camera for high-frame-rate video
Dandelion
  • Tuning of trial car for ultra-high-mobility environment
  • Car operation on test course

Test Equipment Specifications

5G system 5G core equipment
  • Fast handover control during communication between two base stations
5G base stations
  • Massive-element antenna (96 elements, up to two beams)
  • Beamforming and beam-tracking functions
  • Transmission diversity using two antenna units per base station
5G mobile station
  • Massive-element antenna (64 elements, up to two beams)
  • Beamforming and beam-tracking functions
4K video equipment 4K video encoder/decoder
  • High-frame-rate H.265/HEVC encoder/decoder
  • 4K, 120 frames/sec
4K camera
  • Multipurpose camera with high frame rate
  • 4K, 120 frames/sec
Ultra-high-mobility trial car
  • Modified NISSAN GT-R, specially tuned
  1. "World's first" achievements are according to DOCOMO research as of April 23, 2018

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