Although MWC 24 is now in the books, we are still digesting some of the (several) 6G topics addressed during the event. And demos were a significant part of it.

While companies from different countries presented several solutions focussing on different topics, Japanese operators and manufacturers caught attention with a multitude of products designed with 6G in mind. 

6GWorld guides you through some of the most exciting 6G demos we saw at MWC 24 showcased by Japanese companies, from Terahertz research to the chance to share tastes.

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)

NICT, for instance, presented two solutions for high-frequency transmissions. One was a demonstration of an uncompressed 4K video data transfer at 300 GHz. The modulated 300 GHz radio wave was transmitted via optics lens antennas, and the received signal was displayed on a 4K monitor.

In the second demo, NICT embedded a specially designed 60 GHz band transceiver in a robot vehicle that recorded some seconds’ worth of video in real time. The vehicle then would move forward and transfer data when passing underneath an ultra-narrow spot. In the process, the system would be converted to the 300 GHz band.

The research institute also displayed what it called the Dome Theatre – literally a dome projecting a video with NICT’s vision for a 6G future, highlighting how this technology would operate in real-life use cases such as ordering fish online.

Enplas

The Japanese manufacturer brought to Barcelona its new set of small lens antennas—one ranging from 60 GHz to 79 GHz, with a diameter of 20 mm—and two operating at 300 GHz: one measuring 10mm and the other measuring 5mm.

The video below shows a demonstration of the millimetre wave lens antenna working in real-time.

Tokyo Tech and Maxell

The educational institution and the manufacturer displayed radio-wave absorbers (unidirectional), reflectors (unidirectional), and radomes (bidirectional) developed for 6G. 

They all work in the sub-Terahertz range: 

• Two absorbers at 300 GHz 
• One absorber at 150 GHz 
• One reflector at 300 GHz 
• Four radomes at 300 GHz.

Each product has a different thickness depending on the use case (the absorbers, for instance, vary between 470 micrometres and 2.9 millimetres).

NTT Docomo

Besides its concept of a Non-Terrestrial Network for extreme coverage extension using 6G, the Japanese operator placed a great deal of emphasis on augmenting the human experience—not only haptics but also tastes.

The company showcased its “taste sharer”—not an official name by any means. First, users fill in a form with their flavour preferences. NTT’s system assesses how their tongue perceives tastes. Then, it sends the data to the machine, which will combine ingredients based on the recipe being used—in this case, tomato sauce. 

The idea behind the demo is that you’d be able to share with someone else exactly how a given food feels to you—or vice versa. One real-world example would be to taste a dish prepared at those food reality shows.

By the way, 6GWorld had a try, and we were pretty convinced that the liquid tasted just like tomato sauce, as you can see in the video below.