Japanese telecom operators, helped by Fujitsu, have managed to achieve a speed of 100 Gbit/s on a device connected via 6G. The revolution promises to be immense, if the promise is respected.
These are only tests and we are far from real use or even marketing to the general public; we will have to wait until 2030 for that. But 6G has once again shown its full potential. A few days ago, in Japan, telecommunications operators NTT Docomo, NTT, NEC and the Japanese tech giant, Fujitsu, developed a wireless device capable of reaching 100 Gbit/s in 6G. All over a distance of up to 100 meters. A very promising feat, which follows the life-saving test carried out by LG at the end of 2022 up to 1 Tbit/s!
6G will only take a few seconds to download the biggest video games or movies
With such speeds, downloading a 4K movie would only take 2 to 3 seconds of your time. Getting hold of the PC version of Helldivers 2 (around 70 GB) would only take 5 seconds. Even if the race for debits may seem exaggerated and even useless for some, it must be admitted that this opens up some tempting prospects, as much for the general public as for professionals, or even the media.
On paper therefore, 6G has the capacity to be between 5 and 20 times faster than 5G, everything obviously depends on the theoretical speeds announced around the world, which can range from 5 to 20 Gbit/s). Remember that in France, Orange, the operator which offers the best speeds on the latest generation open to the public, has been flashed at 275 Mbit/s on average in recent months.
Fujitsu and the Japanese operators explain that they have carried out verification tests in the 100 GHz (outdoors) and 300 GHz (indoors) bands, using a wireless device designed after a long research and development phase, the work having started in 2021. These frequencies use the spectrum called “sub-terahertz” (sub-THz), one of the main innovations of 6G.
The strengths and weaknesses of 6G already known
The throughput of 100 Gbit/s was achieved by maintaining a distance of 100 meters between the transmitter and the receiving device. Note that there was no obstacle between the two, the goal being to measure the theoretical maximum capacity of the technology. If this may seem prodigious, let’s keep our feet on the ground, because the distance remains rather short.
The main strength of 6G will be a remarkable increase in speeds and a reduction in latency. Except that these will only really intervene on limited ranges. Technological compromises will of course be found to optimize speeds, but they will necessarily be lower than announced, like 5G or 4G in their time.
We therefore come to the question of the uses of 6G, which should move towards ultra-fast downloading, ultra-HD video streaming and real-time control for autonomous vehicles, if the infrastructure and equipment are sufficient. We can also imagine a possible return of the metaverse, and the emergence of holographic communication. You will still need a little patience.
Sources: FujitsuClubic
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