Metawave, automotive radar and 5G technology innovator, today announced its entrance into the fast-growing 5G market with its Metawave TURBO™ and ECHO™ offerings. Testing Metawave’s economical passive reflect array ECHO, NTT Docomo demonstrated a 10x increase in communication speed in a true-to-life outdoor scenario in Tokyo. Metawave is currently deploying these platforms in partnership with leading US and Japanese carriers and infrastructure companies operating at 24Ghz and higher. This week’s announcement follows Metawave’s award — Telecom Council’s “Best Mobile Opportunity,” which included winning votes from participating telecom companies from ~50 countries, serving ~3 billion customers.
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Metawave TURBO™ deployed from radio to direct signal through glass across the street (Photo: Business Wire)
Maha Achour, Metawave’s CEO is presenting at Silicon Valley Reinvents the Wheel (SVRtW) being held today at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The event is being held by the San Francisco Bay Area’s WAJ (Western Automotive Journalists), a group of people who are passionate about the auto industry and the vehicles it produces. 5G will impact the automotive industry as we head toward highly automated driving on the road to full autonomy. It is predicted that automotive OEMs will gravitate towards C-V2X and V2V communication benefiting from 5G lower latency and higher capacity. Repeaters and relays will be critical to extend coverage while maintaining reliable links.
Also announced today, Brian L. Hinman joins Metawave’s expert advisory board. A founder of several successful startups including Polycom, Clover Aviation, Mimosa Networks, and 2Wire, Hinman commented, “5G simply can’t be rolled-out economically without innovative low-cost analog solutions like TURBO and ECHO. Millimeter-wave 5G requires a different kind of network planning taking advantage of smaller antenna sizes at these high -frequency bands. I look forward to working with Metawave, and helping with their exciting 5G deployments.”
According to Markets and Markets Research firm, the 5G market is expected to grow from $528 million in 2019 to $3509 million by 2025, a CAGR of 37.1% during the forecast period. 5G is capable of moving 1,000 times the data of 4G, and is 100 times faster, and adoption depends on high-frequency millimeter wave bands. A much lower latency network than existing networks, 5G is capable of supporting 100 times as many devices as 4G.
Applications for Metawave’s ECHO passive reflector include extending 5GNR’s range to service dead zones, and to bend and point signals around corners and connect to backhaul radios. TURBO active relays amplification is able to extend signals by ~150 meters, under bridges, and through thick glass. By intelligently designing and mounting TURBO and ECHO between towers and desired areas, Metawave increases signal strength inside malls, in office buildings, and in highly congested usage areas like sporting events, airports, concerts, etc. Both platforms are designed and built using conventional materials, providing low cost manufacturing solutions to solve high signal propagation losses facing today’s 5G deployment.
Using advanced analog designs and corresponding network planning tools, Metawave simplifies 5G network rollouts by enriching the channels with enough signal strengths to meet 5G gigabit speed while dramatically decreasing the number of required new radios.
“It is an exciting time to be developing platforms to help both the telecom and automotive industry meet market demands by using advanced analog designs. We look forward to working with all carriers as more 5G mobile devices hit the consumer market,” said Metawave CEO, Maha Achour. “We’re honored to have Brian on our advisory board helping our talented team as they demonstrate tremendous success with our partners, including NTT Docomo and others.”
About Metawave
Metawave is delivering the first advanced analog beamsteering radar system capable of distinguishing between objects in difficult driving scenarios and in all-weather conditions, making cars safer and smarter. Using similar beamforming technology, Metawave is also developing its state-of-the-art cellular systems, TURBO™ active repeaters and ECHO™ passive relays to enable faster, more efficient 5G and fixed wireless deployments to bring high-speed connectivity to billions of users as they connect indoors and outdoors around the world. All of Metawave’s platforms are integrated with AWARE™, Metawave’s proprietary AI software for object detection and classification, and for effective network planning and optimization. Founded in 2017, Metawave is headquartered in Palo Alto and has built its state-of-the-art lab in Carlsbad, CA. Visit Metawave at www.metawave.co, email us at info@metawave.co, and follow us on Twitter @metawavecorp, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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