UK wireless technology developer Blu Wireless has demonstrated uplink speeds over 1Gbit/s for its millimetre wave technology in maritime trials.

The trials took place in France and Singapore in January of this year and reached 1Gbit/s at 1km with an average of 410 Mbit/s over distances of up to 4km in real-world deployments.

The speeds were achieved through advanced beamforming technology and link stability, with a combination of client and distribution nodes, using its a dual TN201-SC mounted in 360° orientation installed on the ship communicating to its DN201-SC shore side unit (above).

“These multiple trials have demonstrated how mmWave communications can be used to show a proof of concept for complex maritime use cases, or in fact any outdoor space use cases, and the results are a significant step forward for the industry. We have a proven product solution that’s flexible, easy to deploy, compatible with other networks such as fibre, and can solve capacity and reliability issues in the maritime sector,” said Mark Barrett, Chief Commercial Officer at Blu Wireless, headquartered in Bristol.

The high speed trials point to future incorporation of smart and autonomous systems into marine environments for mass data offload from ship-to-shore as the ship approaches a port, ship-to-ship data exchange when passing at sea as well as perimeter surveillance using a private network.

Blu Wireless earlier this month also opened an outdoor mmwave test site at Cergy in France. This followed the announcement of availability of license free 57-71 GHz frequencies in France. This uses Blu Wireless 5G mmWave products with complementary products from Mentor Consultant, Lynceo and 4G Technology for operation between those bands under CEPT 70 03 licence exempt regulations.