Beam-steering technology takes mobile communication beyond 5G

Scientists in Birmingham have recently developed new beam-steering antennas that increase the efficiency of data transmission, opening a range of frequencies for mobile technology (even beyond 5G) communications that are inaccessible to currently used technology. Results from these new advancements have been recorded at the Third International Union of Radio Science where they displayed how this device can provide continuous wide-angled beam steering, allowing it to track a moving mobile phone in the same way that satellite dishes turn to track moving objects with significantly advanced speeds.

This technology has demonstrated a vast improvement in data transmission at frequencies ranging across a millimetre-wave spectrum. Those identified for 5G (mm-Wave) and 6G, where high efficiency is only achievable using slow mechanically steered antenna solutions.

This new technology has shown unprecedented transmission productivity. Additionally, it does not require complex and inefficiency feeding networks required for commonly deployed antenna systems, instead uses a low complexity system that improves performance and is simply fabricated.