Automotive radar and 5G technology expert, Metawave, has announced its new TURBO and ECHO 5G platforms for the emerging 5G market. Metawave is currently deploying these platforms in partnership with leading US and Japanese carriers and infrastructure companies operating at 24 GHz and higher. Testing Metawave’s economical passive reflect array ECHO, NTT Docomo demonstrated a 10x increase in communication speed in a true-to-life outdoor scenario in Tokyo.
The platform unveiling announcement follows Metawave’s recent award - Telecom Council’s “Best Mobile Opportunity” - which included winning votes from participating telecom companies from ~50 countries, serving ~3 billion customers. In addition, Maha Achour, Metawave’s CEO, is set to present at the Silicon Valley Reinvents the Wheel (SVRtW) event being held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The event is hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area’s WAJ (Western Automotive Journalists), a group of people who are passionate about the auto industry and the vehicles it produces.
Metawave has also announced the addition of Brian L. Hinman on its expert advisory board. According to Hinman, a founder of several successful startups including Polycom, Clover Aviation, Mimosa Networks, and 2Wire, 5G simply can’t be rolled-out economically without innovative low-cost analog solutions like TURBO and ECHO. According to him, mm-Wave 5G requires a different kind of network planning taking advantage of smaller antenna sizes at these high -frequency bands.
5G is set to impact the automotive industry as it heads towards the highly automated driving on the road to full autonomy. It is predicted that automotive OEMs will gravitate towards C-V2X and V2V communication benefiting from 5G lower latency and higher capacity. Repeaters and relays will be critical to extend coverage while maintaining reliable links.
According to market analysts, Markets and Markets, the 5G market is expected to grow from $528 million in 2019 to $3509 million by 2025, a CAGR of 37.1% during the forecast period. 5G is capable of moving 1,000 times the data of 4G, and is 100 times faster, and adoption depends on high-frequency millimeter wave bands. A much lower latency network than existing networks, 5G is capable of supporting 100 times as many devices as 4G.
Applications for Metawave’s ECHO passive reflector include extending 5G-NR’s range to service dead zones, and to bend and point signals around corners and connect to backhaul radios. TURBO active relays amplification is able to extend signals by ~150 meters, under bridges, and through thick glass. By intelligently designing and mounting TURBO and ECHO between towers and desired areas, Metawave increases signal strength inside malls, in office buildings, and in highly congested usage areas like sporting events, airports, concerts, etc. Both platforms are designed and built using conventional materials, providing low cost manufacturing solutions to solve high signal propagation losses facing today’s 5G deployment.
Using advanced analog designs and corresponding network planning tools, Metawave is simplifying 5G network roll-outs by enriching the channels with enough signal strengths to meet 5G gigabit speed while dramatically decreasing the number of required new radios.
