Japanese Consortium Conducts Successful 5G Communication Demo with HAPS

TapTechNews May 29th news, SKYPerfectJSAT, NTT DOCOMO, Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and Panasonic jointly announced yesterday that by using a light aircraft simulating High-Altitude Platform Stations (hereinafter referred to as HAPS), they successfully conducted a verification demonstration of 5G communication using the 38GHz band at an altitude of approximately 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles).

In this experiment, between the aircraft at an altitude of about 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) and three ground stations, a 5G NR-based backhaul line of the terrestrial 5G network in the air was established using 38GHz band radio waves, which is a pioneer in this field.

The Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) using HAPS is an effective technology for 5G and 6G to expand the communication coverage range. The results of this demonstration will accelerate the practical application of the HAPS network.

TapTechNews appendix: Introduction to the companies or organizations involved in the research:

SKYPerfectJSAT is a Japanese satellite operator and the only provider in Japan that simultaneously provides multi-channel pay-TV broadcasting and satellite communication services.

NTT DOCOMO is a Japanese mobile operator with more than 89 million users and is one of the main contributors to 3G, 4G, and 5G mobile network technologies.

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan is the only national research and development institution in Japan specializing in the field of information and communication technology.

Panasonic was founded in 1918 and its business covers consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industrial, communication, and energy sectors.