Sixth-Generation Wireless 6G

Chinese researchers say they have achieved a record data streaming speed using a revolutionary technology that could help China take the lead in the global race for next-gen wireless communication, or 6G.

Using vortex millimetre waves, a form of extremely high-frequency radio wave with rapidly changing spins, the researchers transmitted 1 terabyte of data over 1km (3,300 feet) in a second.

The vortex waves, unlike anything in radio communication over the last century, added “a new dimension to wireless transmission”, said Zhang and his collaborators from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and China Unicom.

The vortex electromagnetic wave has a three-dimensional form like a tornado.

The Chinese team built a unique transmitter to generate a more focused vortex beam, making the waves spin in three different modes to carry more information, and developed a high-performance receiving device that could pick up and decode a huge amount of data in a split second.

The Chinese government and telecommunications industry will focus mainly on the mass application of 5G in the coming years because the existing millimetre wave technology matured with decreasing cost, according to the researcher.

The commercial roll-out of 6G is expected by 2030, but the military could adopt the technology earlier because “they care more about performance than cost”, he said.