KDDI develops mmWave signal reflector for use in between buildings
KDDI, KDDI Research and Japan Display have developed a portable liquid crystal meta-surface reflector for millimetre waves (28 GHz band) that can change the direction and range of radio waves. They successfully demonstrated reflecting radio waves to cover areas between outdoor buildings where millimetre-wave signals are hard to reach. Additionally, they confirmed that the LCD reflector operates using off-the-shelf solar panels and batteries, leveraging its low power consumption feature.
8KA Comment
This is interesting because one of the challenges of higher frequency and shorter wavelength radio is the reduced range and the challenges that come because the propogation gets increasingly like light. That can mean that at these high frequencies, the performance is only available with ‘line-of-sight’. Low cost reflectors could mean easier support of very high bandwidth signals in difficult locations such as ‘urban canyons’. This kind of frequency can enable download speeds in the ‘gigabits per second’ range, ideal for 8K viewing.
