Comms
Meeting the needs of millimeter-wave 5G small cells for defense and beyond - Story
December 01, 2022Fifth-generation networks, known as 5G, offer extensive wireless services with even faster data rates to come for such uses as military and mission-critical communications, enhanced mobile broadband, and the massive Internet of Things (IoT). Most of the systems to date have been based on signals below 6 GHz. Once network coverage has been achieved at higher millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies of 24 GHz and higher, 5G networks will support multigigabit upload and download speeds. Distributed network coverage at those higher frequencies will require many small cells with printed circuit boards (PCBs) capable of RF, microwave, mmWave, and high-speed digital (HSD) operation. Those small cells will demand PCB materials with high performance and reliability through mmWave frequencies, and with characteristics well suited to the operating environments of both indoor and outdoor 5G small cells.
