Japanese firm provided a massive-element AAS base station system supporting a 28 GHz band
Japanese firm NEC announced that it has provided a base station system for a field trial in remote medical examinations using 5G in Japan.
The trial was conducted by NTT DoCoMo under a project commissioned by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to examine the technical specifications for 5G mobile communication systems.
The 5G-based field trial is taking place in the Wakayama prefecture, a populated region of Japan with limited access to advanced medical institutions. The Wakayama Prefectural Government had previously established a remote medical support system (a video conference system that used an Internet connection) which connects 13 prefectural medical institutions and Wakayama Medical University, allowing local doctors to receive advice from specialists, even in towns in mountainous areas. However, the system frequently met with problems, including unclear images and transmission delays.
In order to address these issues, verification tests have been conducted with an optical cable to establish a remote medical examination service utilizing 5G to connect Wakayama Medical University and Hidakagawa Kokuho Kawakami Clinic, which is about 30 km from the university. As part of this project, NEC set up an Active Antenna System (AAS) base station system supporting the 28 GHz band to create a 5G wireless network.
NEC’s AAS base station system adopts a fully digital control system which enables simultaneous beamforming in multiple directions from a single massive-element AAS unit.
NEC said that this trial of large-capacity 5G transmission enabled real-time communication and sharing of images taken by a 4K camera, high-definition echocardiographic video and MRI images using a 4K video conference system.
“Ultra-high-speed 5G communications are often associated with the entertainment industry. However, these trials showed us that 5G can play a role in solving social issues, such as reducing regional disparities in the delivery of health care. We plan to create new business models and value by continuing to take advantage of 5G technologies in collaboration with ICT vendors, and a wide variety of companies and organizations in the near future,” said Jun Mashino, senior research engineer in the 5G Radio Access Network Research Group at NTT DoCoMo’s 5G Laboratory.
“The remote medical examinations system, where valuable advice can be delivered by medical specialists, will likely become a reliable support system for inexperienced doctors who are newly dispatched to remote areas. I also believe that the system can be utilized for providing emergency medical care, such as by using small-sized echo cameras to transmit high-speed video images of patients at disaster sites or at the site of an accident. We plan to continue improving the quality of rural medical services by proactively adopting cutting-edge technologies,” said Dr. Takashi Yamano of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Community at the Medical Support Center of Wakayama Medical University.
