3 Minutes
Breakthrough 6G Proof‑of‑Concept Reaches 200 Gbps
South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has demonstrated a 200 Gbps 6G wireless link using a proof‑of‑concept (PoC) system developed late last year. The system exploits an ultra‑wide 10 GHz channel centered around 160 GHz in the sub‑terahertz (sub‑THz) band, achieving multi‑gigabit throughput by combining advanced antenna coordination, polarization MIMO and high‑capacity coding.
How the Demo Works: CoMP, Polarization MIMO and Beamforming
The research team implemented Coordinated Multi‑Point (CoMP) transmission and reception so multiple Radio Units (RUs) can simultaneously transmit distinct data streams in the same frequency band to a single terminal. The PoC used four RUs; each RU transmits two data layers by leveraging the two orthogonal polarizations — horizontal and vertical. Each RU can deliver up to 50 Gbps, and when the four links are aggregated the system reaches the 200 Gbps peak.
Receiver design and interference control
On the receive side, polarization‑based receive beamforming distinguishes the orthogonal polarization streams and suppresses inter‑stream interference. In addition, the team implemented high‑capacity encoding and decoding optimized for very wide, high‑speed channels, multiplying the handled data volume by four compared with their baseline.
Product Features and Core 6G Technologies
- Sub‑THz operation around 160 GHz with a 10 GHz bandwidth
- CoMP transmission and reception for RU coordination
- Polarization MIMO (horizontal + vertical) to double per‑RU layers
- Polarization‑aware receive beamforming to reduce interference
- High‑capacity channel coding and decoding for multi‑Gbps throughput
Comparisons and Advantages
Compared with existing 5G and mmWave deployments, the 160 GHz sub‑THz link delivers markedly higher aggregate capacity thanks to the very wide 10 GHz channel and dense spatial/polarization multiplexing. The trade‑off is much shorter propagation distance versus lower‑frequency mobile bands, which makes sub‑THz ideal for ultra‑dense scenarios rather than wide‑area coverage.
Use Cases and Market Relevance
Because propagation at 160 GHz is limited, potential deployments include indoor picocells, stadiums, enterprise hotspots, factory automation and high‑resolution sensing applications that exploit the wide instantaneous bandwidth. The PoC also underscores Korea’s push for leadership in 6G standardization and commercialization: ETRI has been contributing to the ITU‑R IMT‑2030 (6G) framework since establishing its 6G vision in 2020 and recently updated that vision (v2.0) to align with IMT‑2030 and global technology trends.
Advantages for Operators and Industry
For network operators and equipment vendors, sub‑THz 6G links can provide extreme capacity offload in dense indoor environments and enable new sensing and localization services. The demonstrated combination of CoMP, polarization MIMO and advanced coding provides a practical roadmap for integrating sub‑THz radios into multi‑layer networks where coverage and capacity are balanced across macro, micro and pico layers.
Outlook: From PoC to Standards and Commercialization
Yongsoon Baek, Assistant Vice President of ETRI’s Terrestrial & Non‑Terrestrial Integrated Telecommunications Research Laboratory, said the demo proves Korea’s leadership in 6G and reaffirmed continued participation in global 6G standardization and commercialization efforts. While commercial rollouts of sub‑THz links will depend on ecosystem maturity and regulatory allocation of high‑band spectrum, this PoC demonstrates key technologies and measurable performance that can accelerate standard adoption and vendor development.
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