LG Electronics Gearing up to Develop 6G Technology

LG Electronics announced on Dec. 22 that it will demonstrate the results of its R&D efforts towards 6G communications at Korea Science & Technology Fair 2021, which is held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province from Dec. 22 to 24.

At the event, LG Electronics unveiled a power amplifier device it has developed jointly with the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany. Using the amplifier, the company succeeded in demonstrating wireless data transmission and reception in the 6G terahertz band at a distance of 100 meters in an outdoor environment in Berlin, Germany, in August.

Ultra-wide bands such as 6GHz have a short frequency reach and suffer severe power loss during antenna transmission and reception, so power amplifiers are needed to solve this problem.

LG Electronics also demonstrated a variable beamforming technology that converts beam orientation according to channel changes and receiver locations, in cooperation with Keysight, a manufacturer of wireless communication test measuring equipment.

LG Electronics also introduced full duplex radio (FDR) technology that can simultaneously transmit and receive in the same frequency band. It doubled frequency transmission efficiency compared to the previous record in the 6G full-duplex field and has the world’s best technology to minimize internal signal interferences.

6G is expected to be commercialized in 2029, with standardization discussions expected to start in 2025. Leading global companies are scrambling to develop 6G technology as it is an essential means to enable artificial intelligence in Internet of Everything (AIoE), which connects people, things and spaces closely and organically.

LG Electronics established the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center with the KAIST in 2019 and is stepping up efforts to secure core original 6G technologies. In June, it was selected as the chair company of the Next G Alliance, which is formed by the U.S. Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and is expected to play a key role in discussing 6G-related technologies.