Blu Wireless Technology (BWT) has demonstrated its gigabit wireless technology in a network across Bristol.

The HYDRA1.X IEEE 802.11ad baseband IP was used in a chip from US chip maker IDT as part of the Bristol is Open trial network and as part of the 5G-XHaul project (above).

IDT’s RWM6050 RapidWave modem IC uses BluWireless’ IP and is already designed into multiple customer products. The chip also forms the basis of the Typhoon family of powerful mmWave SDN evaluation platforms specifically designed for mmWave 5G networking trials – such as those at the Liverpool 5G eHealth and Autoair transport testbeds funded by the UK government.

“Working with our lead licensee IDT and Bristol is Open as a local testbed, we are proud to have developed and then fully validated the HYDRA1.X System IP in a real-life environment,” said Henry Nurser, CEO of Blu Wireless. “We anticipate exciting times as our low-cost multi-Gigabit networking technology is brought to the market, and we look forward to working closely with all the members of the Blu Wireless ecosystem during the coming months, and years.”

“We’re delighted that this final demonstration takes place in our hometown,” he said. “Our intention is to continue to work on 5G trial deployments and testbeds, such as University of Surrey Innovation Centre 5G testbed, Autoair – where the use of the upper 60GHz band in an outdoor mesh deployment is believed to be a world first – and the Liverpool 5G testbed, where we are helping deliver gigabit internet to homes in digitally excluded communities. This will specifically benefit the local social and health care services across the region.”

HYDRA1.X is BWT’s flexible baseband design for IEEE 802.11-2012 DMG (WiGig) Gigabit wireless ICs and is compatible with process nodes of 28nm or lower. It can be used with all mainstream beam-forming radios across both licensed and unlicensed bands up to 64QAM and comes with a fully supported network driver host software for Linux.

It was also used for the 5G-XHaul project which finished in June (above). The final demonstration showed how wireless and optical technologies could be used together for 5G networks, with a real-world evaluation in a real network environment.

“The University of Bristol is recognised as world leader in 5G research and has recently demonstrated early 5G deployments and trials. With the latest 5G-XHaul demonstration we have showcased the first citywide trial adopting the University’s Time Shared Optical Network, proving the important role of optical networking in 5G and further strengthening the University’s 5G leadership position,” said Dr Anna Tzanakaki at the University of Bristol.

“5G-XHaul has managed to fully deliver on the promise of a converged fronthaul and backhaul architecture, combining wireless and optical SDN technologies, which has been demonstrated in operational conditions in a city-wide testbed. We believe the results achieved in 5G-XHaul are a key stepping-stone towards the practical deployment of high capacity 5G networks,” said Dr Daniel Camps-Mur from i2CAT, the Technical Manager for the 5G-XHaul project.

Blu Wireless www.bluwirelesstechnology.com and the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab are also part of the follow-up project, 5G-PICTURE

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