
Written by: Muhammad Zulhusni, Journalist, AOPG.
Technology never stops evolving. While the world is still taking baby steps to embrace 5G, the next leap in the realm of mobile connectivity is already being discussed.
According to Chinese experts, a new record for data streaming speed was recently set using a novel technology that might help China seize the lead in the worldwide race for next-generation wireless communication or 6G.
Researchers sent 1 terabyte of data over 1km (3,300 feet) in a second using vortex millimetre waves, a type of extremely high-frequency radio wave with rapidly changing cycles.
The team led by Professor Zhang Chao of Tsinghua University’s school of aerospace engineering said in a statement on Thursday that the experimental wireless communication line set up in the Beijing Winter Olympics compound last month could stream more than 10,000 high-definition live video feeds simultaneously!
According to Zhang and his associates from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and China Unicom, the vortex waves provided “a new dimension to wireless transmission” unlike anything seen in radio communication in the previous century.
The experiment revealed that China was “leading the globe in research on potential critical technologies for 6G,” according to the researchers.
Existing mobile gadgets communicate using electromagnetic waves that spread like ripples in a pond. The “up and down” of these waves, which have only two dimensions from a mathematical standpoint, represent information.
However, like a tornado, a vortex electromagnetic wave has a three-dimensional form.
To substantially expand the bandwidth of transmission, extra information may be coded into the spinning, or Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), of these waves.
If you didn’t know, British physicist John Henry Poynting initially discovered the spinning potential of radio waves in 1909 but putting it to use proved challenging.
Zhang and colleagues claim that their discovery is the result of decades of hard labour by several research teams around the world.
In the 1990s, researchers in Europe carried out the first vortex wave communication tests. More recently, a team from Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company achieved 200 Gbps across a 10-metre distance in 2020. (33 feet).
A significant difficulty is that the size of the spinning waves grows larger with distance, making high-speed data transmission difficult.
The Chinese team developed a high-performance receiver that could pick up and decode a significant amount of data in a fraction of a second, as well as a unique transmitter that generated a more focused vortex beam and made the waves spin in three different modes to transfer more information.
The Beijing trial, according to a government researcher exploring 6G technology in Shenzhen, might represent “the start of a revolution” in communications technology.
“The most exciting thing is not just about the speed. It is about introducing a new physical dimension, which can lead to a whole new world with almost unlimited possibilities,” said the researcher, who did not want to be identified since he was working on top-secret research projects with China’s leading telecoms companies.
According to the analyst, the Chinese government and telecommunications sector will concentrate on the broad adoption of 5G in the coming years because existing millimetre wave technology has matured at a lower cost.
Commercial deployment of 6G is projected by 2030 but the military may adopt the technology sooner since “they care more about performance than cost,” he said.
Now, this is by no means China’s first major involvement with 6G. Back in 2020, the nation launched what is claimed to be the first 6G experimental satellite to test communications from space using the high-frequency terahertz spectrum.
The satellite is reported to be one of 13 new satellites launched by China aboard its Long March-6 rocket in November 2020. Not only that but it also has the ability to track crops, forest fires, and other environmental data.
It’s also worth noting that in April of last year, the US and Japan established a combined USD $4.5 billion (RM 18.82 billion) programme to offset China’s quick advancement in 6G technology.


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