Vivo and Qualcomm collaborate on breakthrough 5G antenna technology

Vivo has detailed its collaboration with Qualcomm to address a critical 5G development milestone with their ground-breaking 5G antenna technology. This collaboration has resulted in the successful design and integration of new 5G mm-Wave (millimeter wave) antenna arrays into a Vivo commercial form factor as well as the measurement of system-level OTA (over-the-air) performance.

This milestone is significant as the arrival of 5G is creating major design challenges for smartphone manufacturers and network operators. To fully support the rollout of 5G services, even greater complexity and tougher requirements have been added to antenna designs and technologies.

For end users, mm-Wave technology can attain higher data rates to enable the 5G peak data rate of around 10-20 times higher than that of existing 4G LTE technology, providing a better wireless experience especially with AR, VR, AI, and UHD (ultra-high definition) video applications.

“Through this landmark cooperation between Vivo and Qualcomm, Vivo's industry leadership and innovation on 5G mm-Wave antenna design will contribute to creating optimal devices for end users,” said Dr. Huan-Chu Huang, Antenna Technical Director/ Principal Antenna Expert at Vivo. “After this successful completion of 5G mm-Wave antenna design and measurement based on a Vivo commercial form factor, consumers will soon see the next round of new device designs offering superior performance benefits and a taste of the next generation mobile experience.”

It is expected that both 5G sub-6 GHz and mm-Wave antenna technology will be deployed in every major market around the world, with some markets by 2019 and others to follow in 2020. Beyond this collaboration, according to Dr. Huan-Chu Huang, Vivo is also proactively applying for patents and publishing international research papers on mm-Wave antenna designs to prepare for the arrival of 5G age.

This latest innovation is another example of Vivo’s dedication to break new ground and to lead in critical industry initiatives such as 5G development. “From the early days of WiGig to 5G mm-Wave today, Vivo has been focused on deep studies and solid works on mm-Wave antenna designs and technologies. This successful development of 5G mm-Wave antenna array technology for smartphones denotes a further progression of Vivo’s accumulation of industry-leading technology breakthroughs and capabilities,” said Dr. Huan-Chu Huang.