Motorola: OFDM field tests yield 300 MB/s data rates

Motorola recently said field experiments conducted on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technologies (OFDM) established that such technologies are capable of achieving downlink speeds of up to 300 MB/s. Motorola Labs recently conducted the tests in the Chicago metropolitan area, in both urban and suburban environments. OFDM was used during the field tests on a 20 MHz bandwidth channel using multiple antenna handheld devices. In the field, Motorola labs achieved data throughputs exceeding 20 MB/s with latency of 25 milliseconds, while demonstrating real-time applications including videoconferencing, streaming video and voice over IP, in vehicles traveling in excess of 60 miles per hour. The data gained from the field then was applied to laboratory tests, which established a 20 MHz OFDM channel could support peak uncoded channel data rates up to 300 MB/s, Motorola said, adding it would share its finding with major standards-development groups.